DNM is a structured, interactive approach to manual therapy that considers the nervous system of the patient – from skin cell to sense of self.
We keep learning more and more about the impact of touch. There are some new ways of understanding touch that are coming from something called “Dermoneuomodulating” – quite the tongue twister! (DNM for short).
DNM arises from a deeper appreciation of the skin and its role in the health of the whole person. If you are a therapist, dermoneuomodulating is something you will want to add to your tool bag.
For everyone with a body though, here are some fascinating facts. The skin is the largest organ of the body. The skin develops from the same layer in the embryo as the brain.
So your skin is basically the most exposed part of your nervous system.
It is incredibly active, alive, intelligent and responsive.
A piece of skin just the size of a quarter contains:
- a yard of blood vessels,
- 4 yards of nerves,
- 25 nerve cells,
- 100 to 340 sweat glands,
- 200 hairs along with little muscles attaching to each that give us “goosebumps,”
- and more than 3,000.000 cells!
If you needed any proof that you and everyone you know is a walking miracle, you need look no further than the skin.
Here is a video giving you an incredible, deeper view of the vast living landscape that is our skin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=174u3XFzuhY
Massage supports the myriad functions of the skin through stimulating the many nerves and other cells there, through the circulatory benefits and the soft tissue benefits of massage and hydrotherapy/skin care.
DNM recognizes that the only thing we actually touch directly when we do massage is…you guessed it…the skin.
And because the skin is part of the nervous system, touch here becomes a very direct way to communicate with the nervous system. This connection gives us a unique pathway for relaxation of tension and pain.
Modern research shows that the sensations of relaxation and pain and pleasure originate from the nervous system. Previously therapists assumed they were relaxing muscles. But we don’t really relax people’s muscles. The person’s nervous system “tells” the muscles to relax.
So people relax themselves. They heal themselves from inside out. Touch therapists are essentially communicating with and supporting people’s nervous systems. Therapists always need to learn more ways to cultivate a higher quality of touch that in turn stimulates the nervous system to let go of causing pain and tension and to restore healthy function of body, mind and spirit.
The Lauterstein-Conway Massage School is excited to offer access to master teachers like Dr. Jeff Rockwell, DC who teaches a Dermoneuromodulation, as a part of its continuing education program for alumni and area massage therapists.
Don’t miss the next master-taught continuing education class at TLCschool. Register now.