The Technology Assisted Micro-mobilisation And Reflex Stimulation (TAMARS) treatment employs a tool that can best be described as a bionic hand with four fingers. The tool is very touch sensitive and enables practitioners to feel movements of individual vertebra through it.

The procedure is gentle, passive and progressive and allows mobility to be restored quite naturally through three modes of treatment.

1. Spasm mode prepares the muscles and commences and ends each treatment.
2. The reflex mode stimulates the cervical, thoracic and lumbo-sacral para-spinal muscles and serves to stimulate stretch reflexes in these muscle groups. The para-spinal reflexes assist the spine and operate in unison with countless, constant adjustments necessary for balance and good posture. However, the artificial stimulation of the reflex produces an individual or disunited response. This is achieved through a sharp tap at the lateral end of a transverse process and causes a rapid reflex movement of an individual vertebra. In effect, the reflex movement briefly stress relieves the individual vertebra. However, it is not enough to stress relieve an individual vertebra once. To stress relieve abnormal curvatures, a great number of reflexes must be stimulated and in reflex mode, the handset is adjusted so that all four pads are operating as rapidly moving patellar hammers. As the handset is continuously moved up and down the length of the spine, the configuration of the pads and the speed of operation ensures every reflex is stimulated.

3. It is known that in all cases it will take less muscular effort to maintain the stability of a correctly aligned spine and the stress relieving process by the reflex mode works towards this goal through rapid reflex movements.

4. The mobilising technique differs to traditional manual therapy in that gentle, alternating pressure is applied over diagonally opposed transverse processes of adjacent vertebral pairs. Therefore, mobilisation is achieved through counter-rotational forces on adjacent vertebrae (as demonstrated below) and fixed or stiff vertebral pairs are gently moved through the normal range of motion. Also, there are no sudden, violent movements. Contrast this, for example, with manipulation - in relative terms, this can be violent, clumsy and poorly targeted. Importantly, the handset will not force vertebrae to move by any predetermined amount as the amount of applied pressure is limited by safety features of the device.

5. As illustrated in below, A and B represent placement of the four pads over the transverse processes of an adjacent vertebral pair. Pads A apply gentle pressure simultaneously, the cycle is then reversed and as pads A are withdrawn, pads B apply pressure. As the handset is worked up and down the length of the spine, every vertebra is exercised through counter-rotation.

Clearly, one cannot achieve adequate mobility in the presence of abnormal curvatures. Neither can one complete the stress relieving procedure and resolve abnormal curvatures if there is insufficient mobility in the joints. The solution is a combined procedure which involves alternating between reflex mode and mobilisation mode for the duration of the treatment. The procedure is gentle, passive and progressive. It is the energy and speed of bionic fingers which makes this gentle, passive and progressive procedure highly efficient.

In addition to this, the practitioner manually mobilises the sacroiliac joints to improve stiff or locked sacroiliac joints which helps to reduce overstressing in the lower back.

Applying the above techniques helps to prevent stresses concentrating in particular segments of the spine, especially in the cervical and lumbar spine. Without this, stresses continue to concentrate and vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs continue to undergo degenerative changes, both of which can lead to problems affecting nerve function.

The secret of the treatment is to work with the back and it is the tireless energy and speed of bionics that make this gentle, passive and progressive procedure highly efficient in the restoration of supple elasticity.