About Us

The clinical benefit associated with manual therapy is not simply related to restoring movement to restricted joints and normalising local muscle tone through segmental reflex effects. A major therapeutic role is attributed to activation of the central nervous system (CNS) – in recent years the literature is saying this more and more. It is thought that many chronic or treatment-resistant musculoskeletal conditions are perpetuated by ongoing neurological dysfunctions or maladaptive post-injury changes in the CNS. It has also been suggested that a neurorehabilitative approach is what is needed to more successfully manage chronic musculoskeletal conditions.  Our seminars will provide you with the knowledge and practical skills needed to integrate a neurorehabilitative approach into your clinical practice, giving you the skills needed to better manage chronic pain, repeat or persistent musculoskeletal injury, and more neurological conditions, such as migraine, whiplash, mild traumatic brain injury, vertigo and balance disorders.

Manual therapists excel in their ability to detect subtle differences in musculoskeletal structure and function, for example through muscle testing, feeling for joint restrictions and checking for leg length discrepancies. Our seminars will teach you how to transfer these same skills to neurological testing. Functional imbalances within the brain frequently cause or contribute to patients’ presenting complaints.  For example they can cause: 

• Muscle imbalances and muscle weakness patterns.  Cerebellar dysfunction, for instance, can produce spinal intrinsic muscle weakness and spinal instability that does not respond well to segmental adjusting alone.  Having the ability to detect and treat the underlying cause of your patient’s problems will help you to prevent recurrences.


• Altered angulations of peripheral joints.  This predisposes to peripheral entrapment neuropathies and conditions such as impingement syndrome, tennis elbow, IT-band syndrome, plantar fasciitis etc.


• Autonomic dysregulation, such as increased blood pressure, tachycardia, cardiac arrhythmia, reduced oxygen perfusion and other symptoms associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system.  Increased sympathetic activity is associated with increased sensitisation to pain and chronic pain states.  This, coupled with reduced oxygen perfusion, hinders recovery from injury and predisposes to long-term pain and disability.


• Reduced joint position sense. This will increase the likelihood of injury and impair healing after injury.


• Developmental delay syndromes, such as ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia.

You will learn how to address functional imbalances within the brain using your existing techniques; but you will also be shown new treatment interventions, such as fast-stretch adjusting, coupled-motion adjusting, vestibular stimulation, as well as various physical and mental exercises which are designed to activate different regions of the brain. Our seminars will provide you with a better understanding of the deeper causes of pain and dysfunction, allowing you to tailor your treatment more closely to the individual patient.

You will gain a better appreciation of how what you do works (or in some instances doesn’t work), and on a broader scale why manual therapy is so successful for the majority of patients.

Functional neurological testing skills will help you in your assessment of new patients; but they are also an invaluable quick and simple means of pre- and post-testing to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of your treatments – patients like it a lot when they swayed on Romberg’s before treatment, but stood perfectly still after.

All seminars will be interactive with numerous practical sessions throughout the day to develop your newly learnt clinical skills.  Delegate numbers are limited to ensure that each individual receives sufficient attention during the practicals.  For online seminars, video demonstrations, question and answer sessions as well as quizzes will make for a practically-focused interactive course. Practitioners and students of all regulated manual therapy disciplines are welcome.

Our Speakers:

Nicole Oliver, DC, MChiro, BSc(Hons), PgDip(MSK Neuroscience)
Nicole graduated from AECC in 2005 and began studying functional neurology in 2006. She gained the Diplomate of the American Chiropractic Neurology Board (DACNB) qualification four years later. Alongside clinical practice she lectures for Neuroseminars, teaching functional neurology to chiropractors, osteopaths, physiotherapists and other health care professionals in the UK and Europe. Nicole has presented at several conferences and conventions, including the 2014, 2016 & 2026 European Chiropractors Union (ECU) Conventions, the 2019 World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) Congress, and at the annual or biannual conferences/ meetings of the Swiss, German, Norwegian, Belgian, Finnish, Swedish, Irish and Scottish national associations.

Darren Barnes‐Heath, DC, BSc(Hons), CCEP, MRCC (Paediatrics)
Darren has over 30 years of clinical experience during which he has studied extensively, including over 800 hours of functional neurology through the Carrick Institute. Darren peer reviews research articles on developmental neurology and lectures on developmental / paediatric functional neurology and nutrition to chiropractors, various health professionals, teachers and parents. Both Darren and Nicole practice at Newland Chiropractic Clinic in Lincoln.

Karl Martin Stålaker, DC, MChiro, BSc, MSc(MSK Neuroscience)
Karl graduated from Macquarie University, Sydney in 2006. He practiced as a chiropractor in Spain for several years before returning home to Norway in 2010. During his time at university, he developed a special interest in jaw problems, balance disorders, vertigo, headaches and chronic pain, which he has pursued in his postgraduate studies. He has completed his Masters of Musculoskeletal Neuroscience, with the focus of his studies on chronic pain and central sensitisation. Karl has taught several TMJ workshops for the Norwegian Chiropractic Association’s Regional New Graduate Development Programme. He has also presented at the Swedish Chiropractic Association’s 2019 Autumn Conference on the subject of TMJ influences on the vestibular system.