Blog Post

Neurostructural Integration Technique (NIT) is Pseudo-Science!

CB writes: "I have a question about a new technique that I've heard of. My mom was given information on Neurostructural Integration Technique for help with back/neck issues. I wasn't able to find out too much information about it directly and was wondering if it deals with 'energy' work and should be avoided?"

This technique is considered to be pseudo-scientific and is based on the existence of a putative energy that has no basis in science.

Neurostructural Integration Technique (NIT) is marketed as an advanced form of another New Age healing technique known as Bowen Therapy which practitioners claim is "accepted by leading health authorities and practitioners alike" (in their dreams).  

Bowen Therapy was developed by an Australian man named Thomas Ambrose Bowen (1916-1982) who had no background in medicine. It supposedly works by helping the body to remember how to heal itself by sending neurological impulses to the brain which in turn signals the muscles to relax, thereby easing pain. It does this through a type of "light touch therapy" that is said to stimulate circulation of energy and to clear energetic blocks. "Coincidentally, several of the moves are located along acupuncture meridians or on specific acupuncture points which are known to stimulate and balance the body's energy," one site proclaims.

NIT was invented in 1995 by a fellow Australian named Michael Nixon-Livy who took Bowen's later work and systematized it into the more advanced form. Nixon-Livy is an "applied physiologist" who has a diploma in Solution Focused Therapy, aka Eriksonian therapy. 

I could find no substantive research done by independent researchers on the effectiveness of NIT, only studies conducted by proponents. (To be scientifically valid, it must be unbiased.)

My advice is to stay away from NIT - and all other New Age modalities that are based on the existence of a fictitious energy form. They're bogus and good for nothing except emptying your wallet.

Send your New Age questions to newage@womenofgrace.com

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