Development History of Neurovascular Restructuring

The Neurovascular Restructuring (NVR) treatment and procedure was developed as a result of Ron Brooks being frustrated with what was available to treat pain in his practice in Thousand Oaks, California. Every time a new medication came out, there was a promise of no addiction and no side effects; and every time a new pain modality or procedure was developed there were high hopes; unfortunately each time the results were disappointing. Finally, Ron decided to begin his own research program. The objective of the research program was to develop an innovative non-surgical method for treating pain and reducing stress.

In the initial stages of the research program we found that we could actually decompress the nerves in areas of scar tissue. This was achieved by manipulating the soft tissue by hand in a specific manner to alleviate pressure on the nerve. Next a combination of two types of therapeutic treatment were used, a standard vasopump in conjunction with cryotherapy. This new methodology made it much easier for us to manipulate the tissue. We found that in the majority of cases the tissue was returned to its normal state. As our treatment program progressed patients reported lower pain levels, reduced stress, reduced depression and lower anxiety levels. The process of manipulating and releasing our patient’s entrapped nerves also stimulated the brain to release natural pain-killing chemicals which helped to reset the brain’s own “anti-pain system”.

At this time in our research program we began to look at all of the available mechanical devices used for soft tissue manipulation. We tried many of these without success. Finally, we discovered an existing vacuum device used in the esthetics business. We began to use this device in conjunction with cryotherapy and vasopump, and immediately found we could reduce the “Hydraulic Effect”.  This made it much easier to decompress the tissue. The upward force of the vacuum was also considerably more comfortable for the patient than the pressure from manipulating the tissue by hand.

During the process of researching the physics of our vacuum device, we found that as the size of the vacuum cup decreased the power of the vacuum cup also decreased. In order for us to maintain the integrity of the procedure we needed to develop a more effective method to control the vacuum pressure. A second pump was added to the device which effectively enabled us to maximize the vacuum pressure while using various sizes of cups to regulate the vacuum on the tissue. This new technology will enable us to treat all parts of a patient’s body with much faster results. Thus “neurovasc”  the machine, and “neurovascular restructuring”, the methodology was born.