Does treatment hurt?

Everyone notices intense pressure inside the nose during each treatment with the endonasal balloons. The pressure is used one or two times daily for two to five seconds each time. This means that each treatment has from two to twenty seconds of intense pressure inside the nose. Treatment sometimes hurts. Some people find the first treatment sequence very painful. Each day, after treatment, the bones continue to move, and this too can feel strange, painful or uncomfortable. These situations are usually most intense during the first treatment series. Fortunately, it doesn't remain that way. Ninety-five percent of the return patients find it easier after the first sequence.

Can I function normally right after a treatment?

No. After NCR treatment, a person needs to rest for (typically) five to fifteen minutes before driving. Occasionally a longer time is needed for recuperation. After this initial reaction time, normal tasks like driving can be performed. However, people can have residual effects, such as sensations of movement in the head (aching or throbbing), cold or flu symptoms, or increased fatigue, so that they may not feel like they are functioning normally for the entire treatment series and a few days beyond.

Might I vomit or have a toxic release after treatment?

Dr. Howell has performed about sixty thousand treatments with endonasal balloons. He has seen two or three episodes of vomiting. It is so rare that he does not think these cases were associated with treatment.

However, it is reasonably common to have toxic releases after NCR. During early treatment series, as many as one of six patients can have detoxification reactions like fever, diarrhea or malaise.

What should I do if I easily bleed, bruise or am on blood thinners?

If you easily bleed, be prepared for the possibility of blood during NCR treatment. For bruising, it is recommended to take the enzyme bromelain (from pineapple) as well as the homeopathic Arnica montana to promote healing. Using blood thinners is usually no problem. In special circumstances, with the permission of the prescribing doctor, some patients will decrease their blood thinner dosage for a few days prior to NCR.

What if I have a tendency to blackout?

It is common to feel light-headed after NCR treatment. Homeopathic medicines such as Arnica or Gelsemium are usually effective in stopping this quickly. But, very rarely, people have fainted. All NCR staff members try to prevent blackout by not standing you up too quickly and by letting you sit or lie down when you feel faint. The feeling will pass soon.

How does NCR affect pregnant and delivering women? Are there any precautions?

NCR is not recommended during labor and delivery. There are too many other things for the mother to be concerned with at that time. However, treatment can be given at any time up to that point. It is best to work on a pregnant mother early in her pregnancy because she will be more comfortable throughout the pregnancy and delivery when her spine and pelvis are operating optimally. If the treating doctor finds that a pregnant woman has powerful changes during NCR treatment, then therapy should be avoided during the final trimester of pregnancy so that labor isn't begun prematurely. (It is not known of any instance of this occurring.)

How does NCR affect athletic performance?

NCR is one of the most innovative ways of improving athletic performance. Many athletes strive for perfect form with bodies that work imperfectly. For instance, when a sprinter runs, the arms should be pumped straight forward and back. This can occur only if the shoulders are in the correct anatomical position. If the postural pattern of the athlete is not optimal, he or she cannot run as fast because of the inability to pump the arms efficiently and effectively. This is one of many such situations that can be corrected with NCR.

Many athletes now wear nasal breathing tapes to open the nasal passages. But with NCR, nasal breathing can be greatly improved without the need for tapes across the nose.

Remember the Super Bowl in which the running back for the Denver Broncos needed a drug injection during halftime to control his migraine pain? Orthodontia had decreased the severity of his migraines, and he had the best season of his athletic career. With a hit to his head during the first quarter of the Super Bowl, a migraine appeared. With NCR, his migraines could be stopped.

Many athletes cannot run as fast or as far as they would like because of the inability to breathe deeply. This is especially true when the excursion of the diaphragm is reduced. With NCR, the musculoskeletal structures are released and diaphragm movement is enhanced, creating a larger, deeper breath every inhalation. This allows the more efficient aerobic respiration to continue longer in the body, delaying the inevitable anaerobic respiration. This means the athlete can run longer, farther and faster before fatigue sets in.

NCR for athletes is a natural solution for athletic enhancement!

How long does my head keep shifting after treatment?

Typical head movement lasts for three weeks after treatment. In unusual situations, people have felt continued movement in their heads for four months.

What happens if I keep getting treatments after my symptoms disappear? What does NCR do besides relieving conditions and their symptoms? Can I grow as a person from NCR? How?

As NCR treatments continue, the benefits accumulate. The body continues to move closer and closer to its original blueprint. This means that the benefits become more profound as treatment continues. At first, symptoms of pain and obvious dysfunction leave. Later other beneficial changes are experienced as the nervous system and musculoskeletal systems optimize. This is the time when people note profound transformations in their personalities and in the way they think, feel and move.

The brain develops the feelings a person has. The concept of separation of the mind and body, developed by Descartes in the seventeenth century, is not real. If this were so, ingesting drugs could not alter mental state. This is why counseling is used only for minor psychiatric maladies, and the severe psychiatric states are treated with drugs. With a severe psychiatric state, the brain does not work right! This is not a situation a person can be talked out of. This is also why tense, anxious people look forward to a cup of tea or a glass of wine or beer after a hard day. Do you know anyone who needs coffee in the morning to lift his or her morning depression? All of these examples are indications that the mind is a part of the brain/body.

Although it sounds more spiritual to keep it separate, in reality the spirit is housed in the body/mind. So changing mental function makes a person different in ways a person cannot comprehend without experiencing it him or herself. This can be accomplished through life experiences, both good and bad, both traumatic and euphoric, and created dependably through changing the shape of the head with NCR.

There is a growing cadre of people who continue receiving NCR treatments because of the personal growth they are achieving. Only a body that is operating nearly perfectly can achieve true spiritual growth, the sort that people dream about. How, for instance, can a person expect an imperfectly operating brain to develop psychic skills or achieve a state of peace and bliss? A necessary prerequisite is to optimize brain function. When there is idealized flow of blood and cerebrospinal fluid, brain functioning can be optimal, if the other criteria are met. But a person seeking to become more perfect (by perfecting diet, physical, mental and emotional activities) who does not optimize the mechanical function of the skull can never achieve optimal function of the brain and body.

Does NCR have any bad side effects?

The bad side effects of NCR are all short term. Typical reactions that may occur after treatment include light-headedness, headache, runny and stuffy nose, fever, nosebleed, tearfulness and flashbacks of past events.

The only bad long-term effect is the possible temporary reoccurrence of pain symptoms. Even though this is unpleasant, this is not a bad sign for the body. It is just a movement of the skeleton that is parallel to a position that the body had in the past. With continued treatment, these situations have always reversed.

What are some good NCR side effects?

Many people seek NCR treatment because of a specific complaint, like headaches, sleep apnea or back pain. But NCR cannot be focused towards a specific complaint but is instead a generalized treatment that corrects the causes of many symptoms. People report that they feel more energetic, happy, athletic, clear-headed, smart, creative and (of course) beautiful. After undergoing NCR, people have better nasal breathing, smoother action of the TMJ, better posture, improved vision, better balance, decreased muscle tension, decreased emotional tension and less pain.

Why do I feel clearer, calmer and happier after receiving NCR treatment?

The feelings of clearness, calmness and happiness are part of the normal state of the mind. People should always feel this way. When structures of the skull are not in their ideal positions, mechanical tension is found in the meningeal tissues. The brain has subtle pressures exerted on it by the malpositioned bones. These tensions and poor bone alignments cause the emotions perceived by the nervous system to be less than ideal. A person may feel grouchy, confused, anxious or other undesirable feelings. When the structures are optimized and the mechanical tensions are released, the functions of the nervous system are improved, and the normal emotional states ensue.

Why does my face change shape with treatment? Why does it tend to become more oval and symmetrical?

NCR is a method of optimizing (or simplifying) bodily structures. With it we remove the mechanical changes that trauma has inflicted on the body. As treatment progresses, the bones move closer and closer to the alignment pattern they were designed and formed to be in. For most people this means that their faces become more oval. For everyone, the structures become more symmetrical.

How do vitamins and minerals flow after treatment?
Might I need to change my supplement dosages? Why?

Vitamin and mineral levels will not change from NCR treatment. However, because of the changes in nervous system functions, your supplement dosage levels may need to be different from before NCR. Remember that the utilization of all nutrients in the body is governed by the nervous system. Anything that changes functioning of the nervous system will change the body's requirements for nutrients.

What do I do if I get a strange reaction between sequences?

It is rare to have strange or uncomfortable reactions between sequences. When you do have these occur, it is an indication that your system has continued to move and change, and your structural state now requires further treatment. Unless you have an NCR-trained doctor or massage therapist available, you should see nobody else.

Why does my nose sometimes run or bleed after getting treatment?

It is very common to get a runny nose after NCR. There are two reasons for this: The sinuses are squeezed, causing them to dump their contents (of mucus), and the irritation of the mucous membranes of the nose cause watering of the eyes and increased manufacture of watery mucus. This reaction usually stops within two hours. Many people with chronic sinus problems look forward to a runny nose because this is a way to decrease their sinus pressure.

Nosebleeds can occur anytime the mucous membranes inside the nose are split or torn. This is especially common (about one of four patients) during the first treatment series of NCR when the skull structure is very tight. The movement of the skull at this time is more sudden (or brittle) than normal, and the mucous membranes split rather than stretch when the balloon inflates. As treatment continues, there is more elasticity in the skull structures, so that the mucous membranes have a chance to stretch rather than tear. Then bleeding does not occur.

Persons who have a history of nosebleeds find that the frequency and intensity of their nosebleeds diminish or stop after some NCR.

Why do my teeth sometimes ache after treatment?

The teeth are mounted in the bones of the head. NCR treatment releases the joints of the head so that the stored-up mechanical tension in the connective tissues of the skull, spine and pelvis (meninges, etc.) can be released. This release of tension is especially felt as movement of the bones of the skull. As the palate and jaw shift, the teeth move too. This can make the teeth ache, pulsate or tingle.

Why do my feet and arches look different after treatment?

The feet (and their arches) hold up the body. With NCR, as the structures begin to optimize, the weight distribution patterns of the body change. With this simplification of structure, the job of the feet (holding the body up) becomes easier. Less complicated foot shapes are required. The feet change shape, then, because of the change in their functional requirements.

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