The method
The Elaris Method
The Elaris Method is my own framework for assessing persistent pain. It is a way of working out which layer a person’s pain is being held at, and it draws on manual medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and psychoneurophysiology, which is the study of how the nervous system and psychological state act on one another. Two things it is not. It is not an established modality taught by anyone else or recognised by any body, and it is not a treatment for any named condition: nothing on this page says that it treats, resolves or is effective for anything. It is a method of looking, built by one chiropractor over about a year, and it is used inside ordinary regulated chiropractic care.
Origin
How it came together
I had three separate things and no way of joining them.
The first was the science. I trained in immunology and then in molecular genetics, and I spent my twenties reading research rather than treating anyone. That gave me a habit of asking what the evidence for a mechanism actually is, which has been as useful for discarding ideas as for keeping them.
The second was my own pain, which lasted two years and which I misread completely. For years afterwards I was certain it had been mechanical. It had not been, and understanding why took a long time and a framework I did not have then. The full account is on about Steve Davison.
The third arrived through my wife, watching a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine work in a way I had never been taught, encouraging the body rather than correcting it.
Once I had all three, building the protocol itself took just over a year.
There is a longer account of all of this in Entangled, which I wrote.
What happens in a session
The Neural Integration Session is the repeatable part of the method, and it is what most people mean when they ask what an appointment with me involves.
Length
Longer than a standard appointment, because most of it is assessment rather than treatment
What I ask
The history at length: when it started, what was going on in your life then, what has been tried, what you have stopped doing
What I look at
Movement, load, guarding, and standard physical assessment
What I am working out
Which of the layers the pattern is sitting at, and whether it is one I can usefully work with
The manual work
Ordinary chiropractic care, delivered as it would be in any regulated practice
What you leave with
An account of what I found, in plain words, and what I suggest doing next
I will tell you if I do not think I am the right person. That happens, and it is a better outcome than the alternative.
For practitioners
Training in the method
Training for practitioners is in development. There is no course to buy, no curriculum published, no dates, no cohort and no waiting list, and I would rather say that plainly than collect names for something that does not exist yet.
If you are a practitioner and you want to know when there is something to know, tell me and I will answer you myself.
Where this happens
Sessions are at the Elaris Chiropractic & Wellbeing Centre, Orchard House, 33 Colchester Road, Great Totham, Maldon, Essex, CM9 8DG. Practical details, how to get there and how to arrange an appointment are on where I practise.
Common questions
What is the Elaris Method?
It is a framework for assessing persistent pain that I built and that I use in my own practice. It brings together manual medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and psychoneurophysiology, and it is a way of working out which layer a person’s pain is being held at. It is not an established modality, it is not taught or recognised by any professional body, and it is not a treatment for any named condition.
What is a Neural Integration Session?
It is the repeatable clinical process within the method, and in practice it is an appointment that is longer than usual and weighted towards assessment. What it involves is set out in full in the session section above.
How is the Elaris Method different from standard chiropractic?
The difference is in what gets assessed, not in what gets claimed. Standard chiropractic assessment concentrates on structure and movement. The method asks the same structural questions and then asks two more, about how you live and about what the nervous system is doing, before deciding where to work. The manual care itself is ordinary regulated chiropractic care.
Can practitioners train in the Elaris Method?
Not yet. Training is in development and there is nothing that can currently be bought, booked or enrolled in. Practitioner enquiries are welcome and are answered by Steve Davison personally: ask about training in the method.
If you are in pain
If you are in pain and want to ask whether this is worth your time, ask.
If you are a practitioner
If you are a practitioner and want to know about training when there is something to know.