Spinal Flow Technique®️

Sometimes the body doesn’t need more pressure, more stretching or another attempt to force the painful area to change.

Sometimes it needs a different kind of input.

Spinal Flow Technique® is a gentle, hands-on approach that works with the spine and nervous system. Using light contact at specific points along the sacrum, spine and cranium, Spinal Flow is designed to help the body recognize and release patterns associated with physical, chemical and emotional stress.

The touch is surprisingly light. There is no cracking, forceful manipulation or deep pressure.

But gentle doesn’t necessarily mean insignificant.

The spine houses and protects the spinal cord—one of the primary communication pathways between the brain and the rest of the body. Through the nervous system, information is constantly moving between the brain and body, influencing sensation, movement, muscle tone, breathing, pain perception, stress responses and internal body awareness.

Spinal Flow works with this system rather than simply chasing the place that hurts.

Why Do People Try Spinal Flow?

Some people come because they are in pain. Others come because they’re exhausted, stressed, not sleeping well or simply don’t feel like themselves.

People seek Spinal Flow for a wide range of concerns, including:

• Chronic neck and back pain
• Headaches and migraines
• TMJ, jaw clenching and facial tension
• Sciatica, hip and pelvic tension
• Persistent muscle tightness or guarding
• Poor or disrupted sleep
• Chronic stress and anxiousness
• Feeling constantly wired, overwhelmed or unable to settle
• Fatigue and low energy
• Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
• Dizziness or feeling physically “off”
• Digestive concerns
• Shallow or restricted breathing
• Difficulty relaxing even when you’re exhausted
• Symptoms that seem to flare during periods of stress
• Persistent symptoms that haven’t responded the way you hoped to other approaches

People also seek gentle, nervous-system-focused care while living with more complex conditions such as fibromyalgia, dysautonomia/POTS, chronic pain and autoimmune conditions.

Spinal Flow is not a treatment or cure for these medical conditions and does not replace appropriate medical care. Instead, it offers a different way of working with the body alongside that care.

Stress Isn’t Only Something You Feel in Your Head

One of the foundations of Spinal Flow is the recognition of three forms of stress: physical, chemical and emotional.

Physical stress may come from injury, repetitive movement, prolonged posture, illness, surgery or years of physical strain.

Chemical stress includes the many internal and environmental demands the body continually has to process.

Emotional stress can come from periods of overwhelm, grief, fear, pressure or experiences that have required the body to remain on alert.

Regardless of where stress begins, the body has to respond to it.

Muscles brace. Breathing changes. Movement changes. Sensitivity can increase. The nervous system adapts.

Those adaptations are incredibly useful when we need them.

But sometimes the body continues using the same protective strategy long after it is helpful.

That’s why someone can know intellectually that they’re safe, exhausted or desperately need to relax—and still feel like their body won’t let them.

Spinal Flow isn’t asking you to think your way out of that state.

We work with the body.

Why the Spine?

The spine isn’t simply a stack of bones.

Inside it is the spinal cord, carrying enormous amounts of information between the brain and body.

Sensory information is constantly entering the nervous system and contributing to how the brain interprets what’s happening throughout the body. This influences movement, muscle tone, breathing, pain perception, body awareness and autonomic responses.

This is part of what makes Spinal Flow different from simply working on a tight muscle or painful joint.

We aren’t only asking:

Where does it hurt?

We’re interested in: What is happening throughout the system?

Spinal Flow uses gentle sensory input along specific areas of the sacrum, spine and cranium rather than forcing a structural change.

What Actually Happens During Spinal Flow?

You’ll remain fully clothed while lying comfortably on the treatment table.

Rather than pushing on painful areas, the practitioner uses gentle contacts at specific access points along the sacrum, spine and cranium.

Then we observe how your body responds.

You might suddenly take a deeper breath or long exhale.

A chronically tight area may begin to soften.

You may experience warmth, tingling, pulsing or subtle sensations moving through the body.

A muscle may twitch.

Your pelvis may begin to rock.

Your spine may begin moving without you consciously deciding to move it.

Or your entire body may become incredibly still.

Some people experience emotion. Others feel deeply relaxed. Some notice changes that are difficult to put into words—they simply feel different inside their body.

There isn’t a response you’re supposed to have.

Where Did Spinal Flow Come From?

Spinal Flow Technique® was developed by chiropractor Dr. Carli Axford following years of studying the spine, nervous system and different approaches to working with the body.

Her background included Network Spinal Analysis, Sacro-Occipital Technique (SOT), Bio-Geometric Integration, Torque Release Technique, Applied Kinesiology and Neuro-Emotional Technique, among other approaches.

You may also notice similarities to craniosacral therapy in the gentleness of the contact and the attention given to the sacrum, spine and cranium. Spinal Flow, however, is its own technique with its own framework and method.

These influences help explain why Spinal Flow doesn’t look or feel quite like massage, traditional chiropractic care or craniosacral therapy.

From Network Spinal comes an especially interesting connection to gentle spinal contacts and the spontaneous wave-like movement that can develop through the spine.

Sacro-Occipital approaches also emphasize relationships between the sacrum, spine and cranium and view these areas as parts of an interconnected system.

And similar to craniosacral work, the subtle nature of Spinal Flow challenges the idea that therapeutic input has to be forceful to create a noticeable response.

Spinal Flow brings these concepts together within its own distinct system.

The Spinal Wave

One of the most fascinating responses that can develop during Spinal Flow is the Spinal Wave—a spontaneous, wave-like movement through portions of the spine and sometimes throughout the body.

The practitioner isn’t physically pushing your body through the movement.

You aren’t being instructed to create it.

It emerges as the body responds.

For some people, the wave is subtle. You may see a small movement through the pelvis or spine accompanied by deeper breathing.

For others, the movement can become much more pronounced.

Similar patterned spinal movements have been observed and studied in Network Spinal, one of the approaches that influenced the development of Spinal Flow. Researchers have used surface electromyography (sEMG) to document organized patterns of muscular activity associated with these spinal-wave responses.

Research specifically examining the physiology of the Spinal Flow wave remains limited, so we don’t pretend that science has completely explained everything that occurs during a Spinal Flow session.

It hasn’t.

But the nervous system’s ability to organize movement and respond to sensory information is remarkably complex.

Why Such Light Touch?

This may be the hardest part of Spinal Flow to understand until you experience it.

We’re accustomed to believing that a bigger problem requires a bigger intervention.

Tight muscle? Push harder.

Stiff area? Stretch it.

Painful spot? Work directly on it.

There are absolutely times when those approaches are valuable. We use many of them in therapeutic massage.

Spinal Flow approaches the body differently.

Touch is sensory information.

Receptors throughout the body continuously send information into the nervous system. The brain and spinal cord use sensory information to help determine where the body is in space, what it is experiencing and how it should respond.

An input doesn’t necessarily have to be forceful to be meaningful.

With Spinal Flow, we’re not trying to overpower the body’s protective patterns.

We’re providing gentle input and allowing the body to respond.

More Than Relaxation

Many people become deeply relaxed during Spinal Flow, but relaxation isn’t the entire point.

We’re interested in what changes.

How is your body responding?

Is your breathing different?

Is an area that has been chronically guarded beginning to soften?

Are you moving differently?

Sleeping differently?

Recovering from stress differently?

Are the symptoms that originally brought you in beginning to change?

Sometimes the changes people report are physical.

Sometimes they notice changes in sleep, energy, stress tolerance or how they feel emotionally.

Sometimes the first thing someone says is simply:

“I feel different in my body.”

Every person and every nervous system is different, and Spinal Flow cannot promise a particular outcome.

But when you’ve spent months or years trying to force your body to change, there can be value in approaching it from an entirely different direction.

Spinal Flow creates an opportunity to stop fighting the body, introduce gentle input through the spine and nervous system, and see what the body does with it.

Spinal Flow Technique® at True Therapeutics

The Spinal Flow Technique® is offered at True Therapeutics with deep respect for its founder, Dr. Carli Axford, and the wisdom inherent in this transformative modality. Spinal Flow® is a trademark of Spinal Flow Pty Ltd as trustee for Spinal Flow Trust and is used under license.