Health and WellnessMidlifeBrain Based TrainingBrain Based Movement Training New Frontiers in Re
“I've had years of chiropractic and massage with only minimal relief, so I cannot believe how such a brief non-invasive procedure did wonders.”
This is a benefit of receiving instruction in Brain Based Movement Training for many people. A very fit young man was struggling with chronic low back pain despite working out at a gym and weight training regularly.
Many people find themselves confused despite the various types of alternative and traditional therapies they sought to move better and pain free; they were not feeling it.
Fortunately, we live in a time where breakthroughs in neuroscience over the past 50 years are life changing for those who are learning and applying the knowledge.
With the advent of neuroplasticity research in the 1970’s, we now have a broader understanding of how the body influences the brain. This is where things get exciting.
When brain research was first introduced, about 150 years ago, scientists were able to identify how the brain controlled the body. The belief was that the brain was a fixed organ. When sensation or movement did not work correctly, medical experts believed the brain and nervous system were “broken”. Medications came in to facilitating in fixing it while the core belief was that a broken nervous system could not be fixed.
Dr. Norman Doidge in his book “The Brain that Changes Itself,” shares several miraculous stories of healing from around the world and how it happens. The interesting part is understanding the new framework that brains are adapting and “brains that seem broken” can reorganize. Dr. Eric Cobb, in his Brain Based educational curriculum describes neuroplasticity as the “Science of Hope.” I have found this to be true and as a result, I am totally excited out on neuroscience.
Those of us who choose to go further in studies of neuroplasticity, the brain and movement are working in some of the most exciting areas of healing I have experienced in my 35-year career.
If you have been working with professionals to improve your movement and have not heard of this type of work before, here is why.
The nature of neuroplasticity is holistic. All the brain, all the time. Medicine as it is being practiced has gone in a system specializing direction. Which means people who study the nervous system and how to work with it often only work with people who have significant nervous system problems like strokes, TBI, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy etc. Unfortunately, all chronic movement and chronic pain problems involve the brain. The more strengthening & mechanical approach to healing is not enough in many cases to restore people to a point where you experience all the parts working well together.
When movement slows down or is not as easy as it used to be, or painful, compensation patterns are developing. This is because of a simple nervous system principle called “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand”. Something that Dr. Doidge explains in detail in his research and books.
Most people including medical experts believe these compensations patterns are because of aging. While aging is a piece for sure, it’s way less than you think when you understand the brain and movement. The truth is we are adapting.
For example, sitting disease is really a sitting adaptation.
Your movements and body adapt to the things you do every day and the way you do them. The more you sit, the more your body movements organize to keep you sitting. Unfortunately, a body at rest, prefers to stay at rest. The longer we train the body to sit, the better the body gets at sitting. When we need to move, problems show up.
Once you understand movement adaptation; the process that your brain went through to create the adaptation is most often also the process by which you correct and create a better “adaptive response (move easier, and more efficiently while having more fun!
So that is it for today. My favorite topic to talk about, stay tuned for more.