Neuro Emotional Technique
You can understand why something upsets you and still feel your stomach tighten the moment it comes up. A conversation, a familiar situation or a memory can bring an immediate physical response.
Neuro Emotional Technique, usually called NET, focuses on that connection between an emotional trigger and what you feel in your body. A session follows a particular process, with the aim of making the issue feel less charged.
What is it?
01NET is a complementary practice developed by chiropractor Scott Walker in the 1980s, with Deb Walker as co-developer. It combines elements of applied kinesiology, traditional acupuncture theory and approaches to emotional stress.
Kinesiology is a broad family of practices that use muscle testing. NET is a specific method with its own training and sequence of steps. Its distinctive focus is the physical stress response associated with an upsetting thought, feeling or experience.
Practitioners use the term “Neuro Emotional Complex” for the pattern they believe connects a trigger, an emotion and a bodily response. This is terminology within the NET model. It describes how practitioners understand their work.
The aim is to help you revisit an issue while noticing your physical response, then see whether it feels different after the process.
What may it help with?
02People may explore NET when a particular situation repeatedly leaves them tense, upset or overwhelmed. It may appeal when understanding a reaction intellectually has not changed how it feels in the moment.
That might involve distress around an experience of illness, recurring emotional triggers or stress that seems to accompany physical tension. For some people, focusing on one issue at a time makes the work feel more approachable.
Early studies have explored NET for cancer-related traumatic stress and persistent pain. Evidence is still limited, so the conditions studied should be distinguished from the wider range of concerns practitioners advertise it for.
How does it work?
03A NET session usually begins with a current concern. You might describe a situation that brings up a strong reaction, name the feeling associated with it and notice where you feel it physically.
The practitioner applies light pressure to an arm or another muscle while you hold particular thoughts or statements in mind. Within NET, changes in resistance are interpreted as feedback to guide the session. Muscle testing cannot reliably establish the cause of a symptom or verify the accuracy of a memory.
You may be invited to recall an earlier experience that feels connected to the present issue. While you focus on the feeling, the practitioner may guide breathing and contact points on the wrist and forehead. Some versions include contact or stimulation along the spine, depending on the practitioner’s training and your consent.
The practitioner then returns to the original issue, repeats the muscle test and asks how it feels now. This return to a specific trigger is a defining part of the process. Your own description of any change matters.
NET combines several experiences that could contribute to relief, including focused attention, supportive contact and revisiting distress in a supported setting. Researchers are still investigating how it works and which components contribute to any benefit.
What does the evidence say?
04In a small 2017 randomised study involving 23 people with cancer-related traumatic stress, NET was associated with less distress, anxiety and traumatic stress than a waiting-list condition. Brain scans also showed reduced activity in several regions during recall of the distressing event.
A 2025 randomised study of 26 women with chronic pelvic pain reported improvements in pain intensity, pain interference and emotional measures, alongside changes in brain connectivity, compared with a waiting-list group.
These are encouraging early findings from small, specific groups. Larger independent studies with active comparison treatments are needed to establish how NET compares with other forms of support. The 2017 research was funded by the ONE Research Foundation, which was founded by NET’s developer.
What does a session look like?
05You usually remain fully clothed, seated or lying on a treatment table. After discussing what brought you in, the practitioner helps you choose an issue to focus on and explains the muscle testing and body contact involved.
The session moves between brief conversation, noticing sensations, muscle testing and the NET procedure. You can share as much detail as feels appropriate, and you can decline any touch or pause at any point.
NET may be offered as a standalone appointment or within a broader consultation with a chiropractor or another trained health professional. Ask how much time is allocated to NET, what else is included and what it costs. Session length and the number of appointments vary.
Afterwards, notice how you feel when you think about the original concern. Some people describe feeling calmer or less emotionally caught up in it. Others notice little change. There is no particular emotional reaction you need to produce.
Risks and considerations
06Choose someone equipped to support what comes up. NET training is an additional qualification, and the practitioner’s underlying profession, scope of practice and experience with trauma matter. Ask how they respond if you become overwhelmed.
Keep memories open to exploration. Thoughts or associations arising in a session may feel meaningful, but muscle testing cannot confirm that an event happened or identify a hidden trauma. A practitioner should allow your own interpretation without steering you towards a particular story.
Use appropriate assessment for ongoing symptoms. Muscle testing should not determine diagnoses, allergies, medication changes or the need for supplements. NET can be explored alongside other support, while persistent physical symptoms and significant trauma symptoms receive suitable clinical care.
Questions to ask a practitioner
07- What NET training or certification have you completed, and what is your underlying professional qualification?
- How will you choose an issue to work on and assess whether anything has changed?
- Does your approach include spinal manipulation or other treatments?
- When will we review whether it is helping?
Founder’s Insight
“I use NET alongside kinesiology and acupuncture, and it’s been valuable for my children too.”
I’ve been taking my children to my practitioner since they were born. Over the years, I’ve found these sessions helpful for all of us. Watching my children leave seeming lighter and more at ease is something I really value.
For me, there’s relief in being able to explore what I’m feeling without having to analyse every detail. Sometimes I don’t have the words, or even know where to begin. It feels like I can let my body do the talking.
Founder, The Mental Wealth Hub
You’ve read about it. Now what can you actually do?
You don’t need to have the perfect plan. Choose the next step that feels most useful for where you are right now.
Always speak with a qualified health professional before starting something new. If you are struggling right now, find immediate support.
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This is educational information. It is not a recommendation that this approach is right for you. Always speak with a qualified health professional.
