Foundations of NETT Course Information
About the Foundations of NETT Course
The Foundations of NETT Course is an online program that provides a basis and framework for any practitioner or trainer to understand NETT principals.
It is designed for allied health professionals, non-clinical therapists, exercise and fitness specialists, strength and conditioning coaches, para-medical practitioners and anyone involved in providing health or performance coaching.
The program is offered as a self-paced online program. The self-paced approach allows busy professionals to study at their own pace, at their own convenience, and even pause as desired needed. Each online module is studied independently and the student can make the most of their NETT experience by interacting online with others who are a part of the NETT community
Each module of the NETT course includes audio, video, text, interactive activities and additional learning resources in order to promote learning and accommodate all learning styles effectively.
All materials are supplied online, and a NETT facilitator will provide individualised feedback on all submitted assessments as needed.
As a guideline, students should allow 4-5 hours of study per week and aim to complete the course in a 4-6 month timeframe.
Note – To become a fully- accredited NETT Practitioner, a further course that elaborates on the information and principals from the foundations course will be available in mid-2019. This advanced course has both practical and online components. For details please go to admin@nettglobal.com.
Upon successfully completing the Foundations of NETT Course, you will be able to:
- Explain the roles of functional neurology and identify techniques to help patients/clients better manage health conditions.
- Understand why NETT rehabilitation’s effectiveness comes from treating whole human systems rather than isolating “trouble spots.”
- Integrate this foundational learning with patients/clients to get better rehabilitative and sports performance outcomes
The following gives a description of each of the modules presented in the Foundations of NETT Course.
Module 1 – Wellness Facilitated by Eustress/Hormesis
In this module, students will be introduced to wellness through an understanding of the application of ‘good’ stressors. The module will introduce the wellness hierarchy and discuss the spectrum of intervention strategies that are going to be used as a part of your NETT studies.
Module 2 – An Introduction to the Nervous System:
This module looks at some of the underpinning knowledge of the nervous system required to successfully integrate NETT techniques into day-to-day practice. In this module, you will examine the central, autonomic and enteric nervous systems and discover the importance of how these systems interact. You will examine different assessment and intervention processes and look at how to assess the function of the nervous system from both a bottom-up and top-down perspective.
Module 3 – Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measure of the variation in the time between individual heart beats. Rather than just relying on a resting heart rate measurement to provide an indication of a person’s heart health, HRV measures how consistent the length of time between each beat is.
HRV helps identify if a person’s heart is beating in a simple and predictable pattern, like a metronome, or in a more variable pattern. HRV is a great measure to reflect general heart health.
But, it does more than that; it also tells us about the state of a person’s autonomic nervous system, and this is the focus of this module. In this module, you will learn why HRV is important, how to measure HRV accurately and how to interpret the results you get to better facilitate a client’s rehabilitative and performance outcome.
Module 4 – Neuron Theory and Frontal Lobe
In this module, students will be exposed to the science behind neuron theory and neuro-plasticity. The role of neuroplasticity will be explored from a rehabilitative viewpoint, and techniques will be examined that may help a client/patient enter a more plastic state and respond better to therapy interventions. This module will also examine the role of the frontal lobe, the effect it has on body function and testings and interventions that can be used to identify and correct frontal lobe dysfunction.
Module 5 – Functional Neurology I
In the first of the functional neurology modules, students will learn about the concept and history of Functional Neurology. The history of functional neurology will be explored, including a look at studies and research that led to the pioneering of NETT therapy. The module will introduce students to important concepts of functional neurology, including different pathology and modalities of change, and will look at how to use these concepts to better manage a client/patient’s pain and performance enhancement.
Module 6 – Exercise and Environmental Stress
Environmental stress, such as temperature, hypoxia and heat are known to affect our biological function by disrupting homeostasis. This module is designed to give you an understanding of how the body responds to environmental stress and how you can use these underlying mechanisms to better facilitate a client/patient’s rehabilitative outcomes.
In this module, students will examine the different metabolic classification of exercise interventions, how to manipulate exercise and program training variables and how to use environmental stress interventions when working with clients.
Module 7 – Breathing and HR coherence
Heart coherence or heart rate coherence is a pattern of heart rate variation, where heart rate changes in sync with the breath – speeding up on the exhalation and slowing down again on the exhalation. It’s a natural and reflex-like phenomenon – achieving it is not a matter of effort or reasoning, but rather allowing the body to do it and not getting in the way. One of the most interesting features is that emotions such as anxiety, anger and frustration can block the rhythm.
Using this as a starting point, this module will show students how to improve a client’s HR coherence and autonomic nervous system function by controlling their breath, using relaxation techniques to minimise stress and improving heart function and HRV through correct parasympathetic breathing.
Module 8 – Mind-Body Intervention/Flow State
Mind-body medicine is a term that demonstrates physical, chemical, mental, and spiritual interconnectedness, and currently encompasses a wide variety of techniques, some of which are used as a part of NETT rehabilitation and performance. Understanding and applying mind/body techniques can help clients/patients to improve the physiological functioning of the nervous system, and better balance their autonomic nervous responses.
Specifically, in this module students will examine what it means to achieve a ‘flow state’, different interventions to achieve flow state and how to use both flow state and mindfulness training to better balance the parasympathetic-sympathetic nervous system activity of the body and achieve better pain management and performance outcomes with patients/clients.
Module 9 – Functional Neurology II
In the second of the functional neurology modules, students are introduced to more testing and intervention techniques for the autonomic nervous system. This module shows students how to look for dysfunction of the nervous system by observing subtle changes in the brain/parietal lobe and PMRF before they become distinct pathologies. This can have major implications on the prevention of injury or illness with patients/clients, and can lead to far better rehabilitative responses from those under treatment.
Module 10 – Therapeutic Tremor
Therapeutic tremor is a technique used to give the central nervous system a way to discharging excessive tension from the body. It does so through the initiation of rapid muscle contractions and relaxations in order to calm the body down from an over excited sympathetic state.
Therapeutic tremors promote ANS balance by creating a pattern of contraction and relaxation that releases the built up underlying energy and tension held in the nerves, muscles and connective tissues of the body. By releasing built up tension, the tremor process is using the body’s built in mechanisms to allow the release of sympathetic energy and the restoration of parasympathetic function.
This module introduces the student to the history of therapeutic tremor, the different types of therapeutic tremor currently available, and how to integrate NETT active tremors into a rehabilitative therapy or training program.
Module 11 – Functional Neurology III
In the last of the functional neurology modules, students will examine the role of the cerebellum, vestibular and visual systems in maintaining neurological function and improving rehabilitative outcomes. Specifically, this module will examine testing and intervention for each of these areas in order to determine and rectify discrepancies in function before the appearance of disease or disorder.
Module 12 – Daily/Weekly Intervention and Testing Scheduling
In the final module of the NETT introductory course, we will examine how all of the testing, interventions and lifestyle modifications can be incorporated into a day to day and week by week schedule. Specifically, this module will give all the information needed to successfully integrate different nutrition, exercise, environmental and functional neurological interventions into a patient/client’s daily routine and how to take these daily routines and progress them to allow better client rehabilitation and performance outcomes.
