Neural Mobilization

Neural mobilization is a skilled manual therapy technique by which neural tissues are moved and stretched. The mobilizations are gentle nerve stretching techniques used to desensitize a specific nerve tract. A trained physical therapist is able to manually mobilize a specific nerve tract by placing the body in a position that creates tension on an individual nerve.

The brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves are a continuous unit and should not be considered in isolation. Peripheral nerves such as the sciatic nerve or median nerve (carpal tunnel syndrome) can develop increased neural tension which can result in symptoms such as radiating pain tingliness, numbness, or weakness.

Conditions such as plantar fasciitis, knee pain, elbow pain, lateral leg pain, foot pain, and shoulder pain may be due to a neurogenic origin or source. For example, a patient with heel pain may have entrapment of their tibial nerve at the tarsal tunnel. Patients that have symptoms of numbness, tingliness, or pulling sensation pain would benefit significantly from neural mobilization.

Hampton PT has had significant success treating patients with these symptoms. Kate Serodio, DPT presented in 2008 as well as 2012 at the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons (AENS) Annual conference on Neurodynamics (mobilization of the nervous system) and is a resource for many podiatrists and therapists around the United States.

Ready to learn more? Explore our related posts below all written by our own team at Hampton Physical Therapy.