What are the NeuralChek Scan Procedures?

Pre-Scan Points:

Exercise

Clients should exercise after their NeuralChek appointment that day or a minimum of 4 hours prior. Exercise-induced stress has been shown to appear on scans for up to 4 hours following a workout. Try to schedule athletes or clients who exercise regularly either first thing in the morning or later in the afternoon.

Eating

Large meals should be consumed at least 3 hours prior to a NeuralChek scan. Digestion-induced stress can appear for up to 3 hours following a meal. Smaller meals (i.e. fruit, yogurt, etc.) or protein shakes can be consumed up to an hour prior to scanning.

Encourage clients who have early morning or early afternoon scans to eat a light breakfast or lunch or wait and have their meal after their appointment with you.

Caffeine and Alcohol

If caffeine is part of the client’s normal baseline, have them consume it as they normally would. If it is not part of their normal baseline, have them hold off on drinking their beverage until after their appointment.

Alcohol will impact results, regardless of if it is consumed daily or not. For the best scan results, clients should not consume alcohol prior to their scans.

Hydration

Ensure the client knows that sufficient hydration is important for getting a reliable scan. They should consume an adequate amount of water the night before and the day of the scan.

Setting Up The Scan:

Have the client sit comfortably in a chair.
Spray the insides of their wrists with saline or water. Saline is most preferable to enhance conductivity and can be purchased at Walmart or a drug store. BrainTap uses the Wal Mart or drug store brand of contact solution.
Apply the appropriate lead clip to the appropriate wrist.
a. The clip for the left wrist will be marked with a small yellow band with an “L” on the gray cord.

b. The clip for the right wrist will be marked with a small red band with an “R” on the gray cord.
Click the “Add” button near the bottom left corner of the NeuralChek window to enter the client’s name and birthday. This can also be done prior to the client’s wrists being properly set up in the steps above.
Instruct the client to sit quietly with their eyes facing forward. Encourage them to think positive thoughts. Ensure their feet are flat on the floor with legs and ankles uncrossed, and that their hands are not touching. They should breathe normally through the duration of the session.
Inform the client that the scan will collect 300 heartbeats from them and that for most people, this takes 3-5 minutes.

For best results, the client should not be talking during the scan. It is also a best practice to have them sit still (i.e. no moving of the hands, no fidgeting, no shifting in the chair) for the duration of the 300 heartbeats.

Troubleshooting:

A scan will fail, or “kickback”, due to too many artifacts present in the 300 heartbeats. Artifacts appear as pink lines in the rhythmogram and can be caused by high blood pressure, low pulse, poor circulation (due to blood viscosity or lower than normal body temperature), arrhythmia, or stints. If this occurs, the following steps should be taken:

Ensure the client’s legs/ankles are not crossed and that their hands are not touching.
Make sure that the hands are on the table and/or near heart height. If no table is present, hands can be slightly elevated by placing a pillow on the lap of the client.
If the client is cold, allow them to put on a jacket or sweater. If they did not bring one, have a blanket on hand to drape over their shoulders.

If these immediate steps to not remedy the problem, move to the steps below:

1. Stop the scan by pressing the same button you pressed to begin the scan and move the Yellow lead clip from the left wrist to the left leg just above the ankle bone. Spray saline or water to the skin prior to applying the clip. Restart the scan.

2. If artifacts remain present, stop the scan again and disable the error filter using the following steps:

Navigate to the“Names” tab on the left side of the screen(double click anywhere in the gray area if still in the client’s profile).
Right click on the client’s name
Select“Disableerrorfilteringforthenextexam”
Restart the scan

If two consecutive scans fail, have the client stand up and walk around the room for a moment, and take a drink of water, and then have them sit and try the scan again.

Please note: the disabling of the error filter should only be done as a last resort as this will produce a scan that is unreliable. We only recommend using this method for clients who are insistent on getting scanned during their appointment with you. We also recommend stating the disclaimer for the client that the disabling of the filter will produce scan results that are unreliable and that will likely not be an accurate representation of where they are.

Rather than focus on the lack of a successful scan at the appointment, use this time to discuss lifestyle, habits, and patterns that may have contributed to the imbalance in their ANS that prevented the scan from occurring at this visit. These may include:

Mental Stress
Physical Activity
Alcohol Intake
Caffeine
Digestion
Water Intake
Time of Day
Diet
Poor Sleep
Illness
Other Therapies Undergone
Nicotine
Detoxing
Shallow Breathing
Emotional Stress
Fatigue

A Final Thought

It should be remembered that not everyone will be able to be scanned. 90% or more of your clients will scan successfully every time you work with them. With some, you may get a scan at one session and then due to one of the items listed above, or another potential reason, you won’t get them at their next visit. Depending on your client demographics, a very small handful may not ever be able to successfully complete a scan. These individuals include those with:

Pacemakers
Stints
Arrythmia
Irregular heart rate
Low blood pressure/low pulse
Poor circulation

This does not mean that the equipment is faulty. It simply means that the state of the autonomic nervous system of that particular individual at that time is not conducive to a successful scan.