Pittsburgh Neuro-Muscular Therapy

Concussion's Effects May Linger for Decades

2009-01-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Athletes who suffer a concussion can experience a decline in their mental and physical processes more than 30 years later, according to a Canadian study that's the first to identify these kinds of long-term effects.

The researchers examined 40 healthy, former university-level athletes between the ages of 50 and 60. Of those, 19 had suffered a concussion more than 30 years ago, and 21 had no history of concussion.

Compared to those who were concussion-free, the participants who'd been concussed only once or twice in their early adulthood showed declines in attention and memory, as well as a slowing of some types of movement.

The study was published online Jan. 28 in the journal Brain Most research focuses on the immediate, post-concussion period and on deciding when it's safe for a concussed athlete to return to play. The long-term effects of concussion tend to be overlooked.

"This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age," study first author Louis De Beaumont, of the University of Montreal, said in a news release from the journal.

"In light of these findings, athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes, so that they know about the risks associated with returning to their sport," he said.

Follow-up studies are needed to determine if concussion may increase the risk of serious mental and physical decline in old age, De Beaumont added.

More information

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons has more about concussion.

SOURCE: Oxford University Press, news release, Jan. 27, 2009

Walking Meditation

2008-09-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

by Steven Smith

In walking meditation, we become aware of the movement of each step. It is a way of using a natural part of life to increase mindfulness. Once you learn the practice, you can do it almost anywhere. It helps us feel fully present on the earth.

Find a place where you can walk back and forth, about ten to twenty steps in length. Keep the hands stationary, either behind the back, at the sides, or in front.

Feel the sensations of standing. Be aware of contact with the ground, of pressure and tension. Feel the entire energy field of the body, how it is all participating in this standing. Feel the hands hanging down...the shoulders weighted...the lower back, the pelvis...each having its own part in keeping the balance of the standing position.

Now bring your attention to the lower part of the body, from the hips downward, the primary foundation of standing. Staying aware, very slowly shift your weight from the left and back of your body to the right, noticing as you do how the sensations change as your balance shifts. Now hold your weight on the left for a moment, aware of the particular sensations in the leg... hips, thighs, legs, knees, calves, feet, toes, not particularly noticing or identifying those parts of the body, but letting the awareness fill the legs. Feel hardness, tension, tightness, heat, vibration, toughness, stiffness, whatever is there.

Now, keeping your weight on the left side, bring your awareness to the right and feel the relative lightness, emptiness, subtler sensations on the right leg. Now, with your awareness still on the right leg, slowly shift your weight to the right side. Let the awareness seep in right down to the bone, sensing the variations of hardness and softness, toughness, and fluidity, pressure, vibration, weight.

Now bring your awareness to the left side again, and move as if you are very slowly pouring water from a full vessel into an empty one. Notice all the changes as you shift your weight to the left side. With your eyes open just enough to hold your balance, very slowly peel your right foot off the ground and move it forward and place it on the ground. With your awareness on the right, shift your weight, bring awareness to the left, feel from the hips and buttocks down the sides, the whole range of sensations. Continue stepping slowly, keeping your awareness on the sensations. When you get to the end of the path, pause briefly and turn around. Center yourself, and be aware of the first step as you begin again.

You can do the walking meditation at different paces: brisk, normal, and very slow and meticulous. The idea is not to walk slowly; the idea is to move mindfully. As your mind begins to quiet, you will see how we notice more when we move slowly. More becomes clear, we get to feel the inter-relationship of mind and body.

If you like labeling, you can say to yourself "walking/walking" or "step/step," or "right/left." Not using the labeling as a cadence that becomes rote, but using it to encourage the awareness of the sensations of walking.

After some time, you can slow down a bit and actually feel more or less two sections of walking, the lift swing and the placing. So the label might be "lift" as you lift and swing, and then "place." It is a little slower, but not so slow that you lose your balance. Lifting , placing, stop. Feel the stopping, feel the turning. Lift and place, it is very simple, you are really just being with walking.

You are being really detailed, you are not assessing, you are not evaluating. It is a bare awareness, feeling the flow of sensations. When you lift, move, place, notice the shift of weight, the heel peeling off the toe, even the ground. Or you might notice the knee bending, the calf tensing, or the thigh being taut...sometimes you may notice the whole leg simultaneously, another time you might focus on tingling in the toe. Lifting, moving, placing.

Holding your visual field to a minimum--6,8,9 feet--is helpful for a period of time. Then, when you feel like you just can't take it anymore, open up your field of vision, look around, and just be aware of seeing and hearing for a while. It is important to keep a lightness of being.

If you feel flooded with thoughts, just stop for a moment and be aware of thoughts. Let the flood of thoughts come and go and then go back to the walking. You begin to see that nothing is a distraction, as long as you recognize what is there.

Think of it like this... you are starting off on a trek, and you just landed in Katmandu, You are going up to Mustang Valley....you are going to trek up one of these mountains, and there is the goal of reaching the top, there's the desire to get there, and then there's the realization that there is a whole process of getting there, and, along the way, more and more, there is the realization that the process is the goal. At first, you don't have your walking body...you have been busy and confined, muscles aren't loose, bones are a bit stiff....it takes a while for there to be a rhythm between mind and body, to get into that rhythm, to be carried by that rhythm, so that the experience becomes being carried by the mountain, and then the second winds come...and the body just feels in flow, it feels in harmony, it feels in sync with the mountain itself and the movements up and down.

It is the same way in meditation--first it's a stretch, and you feel a resistance, the push, the upward climb....but you can just take your time, keep learning how to settle back, lean back, and tune in to the process, until more and more, you feel carried by it itself, and it becomes restful.

next, Loving-Kindness Meditation

David Foster Wallace on Life and Work

2008-09-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

from The Wall Street Journal

"This is not a matter of virtue -- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work
of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting,
which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret
everything through this lens of self."

http://reno.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html

The Benefits of Biofeedback

2008-09-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

It's gaining ground as a stress-management tool

Because she was planning to get pregnant, Janelle (who preferred not to give her last

name) decided last year to go off powerful medication for stress-induced migraines in

favor of a more fetus-friendly therapy.

With sensors attached to her fingertips, neck, and abdomen, she spent 20 sessions

learning to relax her muscles and slow her breathing and heart rate while watching a

computer monitor for proof of the desired result. Eventually, she was able to do the

work on her own. "The migraine pain doesn't go away completely," says the 39-year

old from Bethesda, Md., who has remained off medication since her son's birth two

months ago. "But it's been greatly reduced, and I'm able to deal with it better."

Like meditation and yoga, the biofeedback method that Janelle now swears by is

enjoying a sort of renaissance; while it's been around for some 40 years, a growing

body of research has brought it to the mainstream, indicating that it can relieve some

hard-to-manage conditions exacerbated by stress. Many major hospitals and clinics,

including Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Duke University Medical Center,

now offer biofeedback to people with hypertension and jaw pain as well as headaches,

for example. And new pocket-size gadgets have hit the market that let you do it yourself.

Biofeedback's major appeal is that one series of sessions purportedly teaches a set of

skills you can use for life—without side effects. And it's pre-emptive. "Biofeedback teaches

you to identify early signs that stress is starting to get to you and to bring that stress

reaction down before it causes physical symptoms," explains Frank Andrasik, a professor

of psychology at the University of West Florida in Pensacola who serves as editor-in-chief

of the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

Instructions on a computer screen tell you when to inhale and exhale, for example, so

that you practice slowing down, ideally to about six breaths per minute. The point is to

calm your body's autonomic nervous system, which raises your blood pressure and heart

rate when you're stressed. One important effect: an increase in your "heart rate variability,"

those subtle moment-to-moment fluctuations in the pace of your heartbeat.

Research suggests that lower variability is associated with a higher risk of dying from heart

disease. Tall, even waves cross the computer screen as your breathing slows and the stress

response calms; the waves are short and spiky when you're on edge. Sensors also detect an

increase in your hand's skin temperature, a sign you've lowered the level of "fight or flight"

stress hormones that shunt blood away from your extremities and have entered a state

practitioners call "focused calm." The key is to practice so that you get there automatically

when the traffic jams or the boss screams.

In part, biofeedback's resurgence stems from technological advances that provide instant,

easy-to-understand information, says social worker Mary Lee Esty, head of the Neurotherapy

Center in Bethesda, where Janelle was treated. One computer software program displays an

open-mouthed smiling dolphin when all systems are calm and then jumbles the photo if

breathing becomes uneven or rapid. "The timing of the feedback is absolutely critical to

learning what feels right," Esty explains.

Still seeking proof.

Whether biofeedback actually teaches permanent skills remains unproven. But some long-term

studies suggest that patients are still employing the techniques successfully years later. And

though there's evidence that the therapy works better than sham treatments to lower stress-

related aches and pains, it hasn't been tested against standard treatments like aspirin for tension

headaches—though for many people, like Janelle, getting off medication is the goal. A study

published last year in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that people

with mild hypertension who had four weekly sessions of biofeedback experienced a significantly

greater lowering of their blood pressure than those who had stress reduction training without

the feedback.

Evidence is stronger, Andrasik says, that biofeedback helps with non-stress-related conditions

like chronic constipation and urinary incontinencee, where it's used to retrain the muscles

involved in waste elimination. A newer technique called neurofeedback, which uses scalp

sensors to measure brain waves, appears promising for helping restore normal brain wave

function disrupted by head injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe migraines.

The biggest caveat for many people will be lack of insurance coverage. While Aetna and

Kaiser Permanente cover biofeedback for certain stress-related conditions, many companies

don't. The Neurotherapy Center's five-session treatment plan for stress costs about $500;

Janelle's 20 sessions—typical for migraine patients—cost her $2,000 out of pocket.

If you proceed, be sure your practitioner is certified by the Biofeedback Certification Institute

of America, since anyone can hang out a shingle; typically, certified practitioners are also

licensed psychologists. Realize, too, that long-term success often rests, literally, in the hands

of the patient. Psychologist Deborah Stokes, who practices biofeedback in Alexandria, Va., t

ells her patients to practice warming their hands—using a $20 home device from Bio-Medical

Instruments—for 20 minutes a night between sessions. Janelle says she still occasionally

practices the techniques she learned and called on them during childbirth. "It really helped

me focus," she says. "I was able to give birth without an epidural."

By Deborah Kotz, US News & World Report

Lao Tzu Quote

2008-08-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Aikido as Bodywork

2008-08-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

(Note the highlighted text in the following article by Ellis Amdur )

Aikido is Three Peaches - Part I

It is very significant that Ueshiba Kishomaru wrote about the book, Takemusu Aiki (reprinted in four sections in Aikido Journal recently) that it is the work most representative of O-sensei’s thinking… . It occurs to me, then, that perhaps we should take him at his word. When Tohei Koichi derisively comments on Ueshiba’s explanations of aikido, saying that all he learned from O-Sensei was the concept of relaxation, but otherwise scorns Ueshibas statements as incoherent gibberish, is it possible that, although Tohei allegedly became a master at relaxing his body in martial arts training exercises, he simply did not understand that Ueshiba was using HIS relaxed body to accomplish very different aims?

It is quickly apparent that what makes O-Sensei even more difficult to understand than he otherwise would be is due to the fact that he freely mixes classical Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism and neo-Shinto concepts and images, often within a single paragraph. But if one claims that Ueshiba’s explanations of Takemusu Aiki were extraneous to the real thing - shihonage/irimi-nage, or aiki-social-work, or relaxation - then we are also choosing to regard him as an idiot savant, one of those eccentrics who, amidst the babble of his autistic process, somehow stumbles on valuable information.

In Ueshiba’s first statements, he defines aikido as the Way of union and harmony of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Note that very significant trinity, which later, one footnote suggests, come into fruition in a circle. He gives many definitions of aikido, but I see a trinity here as well: as a purification rite, as a procedure to make kotodama possible, and a means of protection of all of creation.

Ueshiba defines the aikido practitioner as one who assists in the administration of the Universe by serving as a sword. Note: “as a sword,” not “with a sword.” It is significant that he uses the word tsurugi rather than katana. The straight sword was associated with ancient days and ancient ways, the primordial semi-myth, semi-history of the Yamato people who are described in Kojiki. Therefore, he is very clearly not saying that aikidoka should become God’s sheriff, wandering the world and righting wrongs. This is a spiritual pursuit, not a vigilante activity.

Ueshiba states that the primary divine work is … “unifying with God in harmony.” It is remarkable that Ueshiba states that in putting spirit and body in order, these are independent of each other. In short, spiritual austerities OR practice of the martial art of aikido are each only half of aikido. The realization of this harmony will not take place through prayer or meditation or good works or any other spiritual practice, nor will it take place merely by practicing aikido in our Yoshinkan, Aikikai, Ki no Kenkyukai or other training halls. These two activities must be pursued in parallel, not together. Thus, one can’t train the spirit simply by a sufficiency of tenchinage.

He likens aikido to the work of insects, fish, birds, and other animals in cleaning up impurities. By using this image, he is saying that just as that which makes an insect most insect is its chewing up rotten wood or carrion, that which makes a human being truly human is purifying ourselves from all sins and impurities. This, he is saying, is why we are alive.

In Part 2 of his first talk, he once again offers that infuriating and inspiring concept that Aikido is the work of love. And this love is very clearly linked in the meandering exposition that follows with a fundamental rupture between the two creator gods, Izanagi and Izanami. In brief, these two deities who exemplify the yin and yang forces of the cosmos, are divorced due to their creativity. Izanami is so damaged by her birthing of the fire god that she passes on to the underworld. Izanagi, in a near-mirror image of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, misses his wife dearly, and goes down to Hades to see her. He is horrified by her disfigurement, and she is enraged by his rejection. She pursues him, first by agents that are emanations of herself (a she-demon, and an army). Izanagi forestalls the former with a sword and the latter by casting three peaches behind him. Fiinally Izanami herself pursues him, only to be blocked by a huge boulder at the doorway between the two realms. Consider the archetypal meaning here. Izanami is terribly damaged in giving birth, (creation bears destruction within it), and the demonic resides within the most beneficent of forces. Izanagi gives his wife no compassion whatsoever, even though she was destroyed giving birth to his son. There is a fundamental rupture between the worlds. Izanami threatens to kill a thousand people a day, and Izanagi counters by saying he will build 1500 birth huts a day.

O-Sensei states that aikido is the three peaches cast behind Izanagi to forestall Izanami’s hellish minions. They are not the agent of reunification of these two dieties; they are the means to keep each divine energy in its proper realm. He states that the practice of aikido is the embracing of the three worlds: the world of Appearance, the Subconscious World, the Divine world. Note that the subconscious world is elsewhere defined as Hades. Therefore, unlike a simple dualism of Yin and Yang, which merely must be balanced, in Ueshiba’s cosmos the human being provides a vital third force, emanating from the world of Appearances. Rather than a happy-ever-after fairly tale of reunification of estranged deities, humanity, through aikido, keeps things in their proper realm. Harmony, not merger. What makes aikido martial, what makes it a manifestation of the sword (tsurugi) rather than mere meditation is that, like the three peaches (yet another trinity) cast behind Izanagi, it maintains the forces of the universe in their proper roles.

I am less qualified to discuss kotodama than any other area in Ueshiba’s talk, but it seems clear that he is mapping out the energies of the cosmos, and procedures to shape and work these energies in order to advance toward the perfection of the entire world in order to establish a Heaven on Earth. In short, when Heaven is ON Earth, the trinity of the three worlds with become the circle, with Heaven, Earth and Humanity in harmony.

My thesis here is supported because Ueshiba clearly states that not only are the sins of humanity purged through Takemusu Aiki, but, he states, those of the entire Universe. The universe rests on three poles, one of which is humanity itself. The means to universal purification is kotodama. Aiki’s role in this, he states, is to protect love. Once again, aikido’s function in Ueshiba’s cosmos is the application of a protective force that enables the work of kotodama to occur.

Ueshiba describes himself as a deity - both Fudomyo, a deity to defeat evil, and a Boddhisatva, (a not-exactly-divine-but-somehow-closely-so) human who has devoted his life to the salvation of all beings. He then states, “I asked questions to myself and then understood. I have the universe inside me. Everything is in me. I am the Universe itself so there is no me. Moreover, since I am the Universe there is only me and no other.” If this is, to use the psychological term, a grandiose narcissistic inflation, then one can understand the irritation of those like Tohei. But if I might allow myself an editorial koan, “Jorai asked, ‘Do the grandiose narcissistically inflated have the Buddha nature?’ Senzan replied, ‘SUUUUUUUUU’”

When Ueshiba describes aikido as a religion without being a religion, he is stating that aikido vivifies religion from empty spiritualism, because of its dynamic qualities: it purifies, it actively relegates energies to their proper realm and it is, by definition, that which protects.

Ueshiba beautifully states, “The Earth has already been perfected…. Only humanity has not yet completed itself. This is because sins and impurities have penetrated into us. The forms of aikido techniques are preparation to unlock and soften all joints of our body.” ATTENTION HE JUST EXPLAINED AIKIDO PRACTICE!!!!! He defines why and how he created his method of training, distilled from his previous martial studies, why he selected out the techniques he did, and why he excluded others.

Practice is for the purpose of creating a body that is not only analogous to the enlightened spirit, but makes the enlightened spirit possible. He concludes his first talk: “Thus, aikido harmonizes with all nature while purifying sins and impurities. I, Ueshiba, would like to repair and firmly rebuild this world in correct order through the gate of martial arts.”

To bring this back to the mundane, I certainly do not see this as a prohibition into the research of technique. But it is clear that anything, however practiced, that would interfere with the simultaneous functions of purification and protection of the ordering of the universe, so that the divine work (kotodama) can take place, cannot be termed Ueshiba’s aikido.

Finally, speaking of narcissistic inflation, I am anything but a scholar, and I simply skipped a lot of things in the first essay - doctrine, detailed exposition of cosmology - that I don’t know anything about. But what I do understand seems quite clear to me. Rather than dismissing Ueshiba as speaking incoherent archaic mysticism, I believe that he left us a clear statement of what he was trying to accomplish, one that makes aikido far more challenging and enthralling than the idea that it’s watered-down Daito-ryu for the masses; that it’s a merely a method of conflict resolution techniques, sketched out physically, so we can integrate them in our psychology sessions or human resources actions; that it’s “love” as defined in Western terms such as agape or caritas; or that it is a martial art that’s “just as tough as yours is.” Any and all of these may be useful and even true, but I hope I’ve been able to illustrate that Ueshiba clearly said he was doing something else. Clearly - not obscurely at all. Given a spare moment and the blessings of the gods of the purple smoke, I may try again with some of his later essays at another time.

Author: Dueling with O-Sensei & Old School, as well as the new Instructional DVD: “Ukemi from the Ground Up.”

www.ellisamdur.com

Brain Injury Checklist

2008-08-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

SYMPTOMS OF BRAIN INJURY
Any brain function can be disrupted by brain trauma: excessive sleepiness, inattention, difficulty concentrating, impaired memory, faulty judgment, depression, irritability, emotional outbursts, disturbed sleep, diminished libido, difficulty switching between two tasks, and slowed thinking. Sorting out bonafide brain damage from the effects of migraine headaches, pain elsewhere in the body, medications, depression, preoccupation with financial loss, job status, loss of status in the community, loss of status in the family, and any ongoing litigation can be a formibable task.

The extent and the severity of cognitive neurologic dysfunction can be measured with the aid of neuropsychological testing. Neuropsychologists use their tests to localize dysfunction to specific areas of the brain. For example, the frontal lobes play an essential role in drive, mood, personality, judgment, interpersonal behavior, attention, foresight, and inhibition of inappropriate behavior. The ability to plan properly and execute those plans is known as "executive function." Frontal lobe injury is often associated with damage to the olfactory bulbs beneath the frontal lobes. Patients may note reduced or altered sense of smell. One recent study (Varney 1993) showed that 92% of brain injured patient suffering anosmia (loss of smell) had ongoing problems with employment, even though their neuropsychological testing was relatively normal.

The effects of brain injury on the patient may be equaled or even surpassed by the effect on the patient's family. Brain injuries are known for causing extreme stressors in family and interpersonal relationships.

In general, symptoms of traumatic brain injury should lessen over time as the brain heals but sometimes the symptoms worsen because of the patient's inability to adapt to the brain injury. For this and other reasons, it is not uncommon for psychological problems to arise and worsen after brain injury.

SYMPTOM CHECKLIST

A wide variety of symptoms can occur after "brain injury." The nature of the symptoms depends, in large part, on where the brain has been injured. Below find a list of possible physical and cognitive symptoms which can arise from damage to specific areas of the brain:

Frontal Lobe: Forehead
Loss of simple movement of various body parts (Paralysis).
Inability to plan a sequence of complex movements needed to complete multi-stepped tasks, such as making coffee (Sequencing).
Loss of spontaneity in interacting with others.
Loss of flexibility in thinking.
Persistence of a single thought (Perseveration).
Inability to focus on task (Attending).
Mood changes (Emotionally Labile).
Changes in social behavior.
Changes in personality.
Difficulty with problem solving.
Inability to express language (Broca's Aphasia).

Parietal Lobe: near the back and top of the head
Inability to attend to more than one object at a time.
Inability to name an object (Anomia).
Inability to locate the words for writing (Agraphia).
Problems with reading (Alexia).
Difficulty with drawing objects.
Difficulty in distinguishing left from right.
Difficulty with doing mathematics (Dyscalculia).
Lack of awareness of certain body parts and/or surrounding space (Apraxia) that leads to difficulties in self-care.
Inability to focus visual attention.
Difficulties with eye and hand coordination.

Occipital Lobes: most posterior, at the back of the head
Defects in vision (Visual Field Cuts).
Difficulty with locating objects in environment.
Difficulty with identifying colors (Color Agnosia).
Production of hallucinations.
Visual illusions - inaccurately seeing objects.
Word blindness - inability to recognize words.
Difficulty in recognizing drawn objects.
Inability to recognize the movement of object (Movement Agnosia).
Difficulties with reading and writing.

Temporal Lobes: side of head above ears
Difficulty in recognizing faces (Prosopagnosia).
Difficulty in understanding spoken words (Wernicke's Aphasia).
Disturbance with selective attention to what we see and hear.
Difficulty with identification of, and verbalization about objects.
Short term memory loss.
Interference with long term memory.
Increased and decreased interest in sexual behavior.
Inability to catagorize objects (Categorization).
Right lobe damage can cause persistent talking.
Increased aggressive behavior.

Brain Stem: deep within the brain
Decreased vital capacity in breathing, important for speech.
Swallowing food and water (Dysphagia).
Difficulty with organization/perception of the environment.
Problems with balance and movement.
Dizziness and nausea (Vertigo).
Sleeping difficulties (Insomnia, sleep apnea).

Cerebellum: base of the skull
Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements.
Loss of ability to walk.
Inability to reach out and grab objects.
Tremors.
Dizziness (Vertigo).
Slurred Speech (Scanning Speech).
Inability to make rapid movements.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

2008-07-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

What the Internet is doing to our brains

by Nicholas Carr

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial »

brain. “Dave, my mind is going,” HAL says, forlornly. “I can feel it. I can feel it.”

I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. The Web has been a godsend to me as a writer. Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link. (Unlike footnotes, to which they’re sometimes likened, hyperlinks don’t merely point to related works; they propel you toward them.)

For me, as for others, the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded. “The perfect recall of silicon memory,” Wired’s Clive Thompson has written, “can be an enormous boon to thinking.” But that boon comes at a price. As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon. Scott Karp, who writes a blog about online media, recently confessed that he has stopped reading books altogether. “I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader,” he wrote. “What happened?” He speculates on the answer: “What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed?”

Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,” he wrote earlier this year. A pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short passages of text from many sources online. “I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

Anecdotes alone don’t prove much. And we still await the long-term neurological and psychological experiments that will provide a definitive picture of how Internet use affects cognition. But a recently published study of online research habits, conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that we may well be in the midst of a sea change in the way we read and think. As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it. The authors of the study report:

It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.

Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self. “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.” Wolf worries that the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts “efficiency” and “immediacy” above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. When we read online, she says, we tend to become “mere decoders of information.” Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.

Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains. Experiments demonstrate that readers of ideograms, such as the Chinese, develop a mental circuitry for reading that is very different from the circuitry found in those of us whose written language employs an alphabet. The variations extend across many regions of the brain, including those that govern such essential cognitive functions as memory and the interpretation of visual and auditory stimuli. We can expect as well that the circuits woven by our use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.

Sometime in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche bought a typewriter—a Malling-Hansen Writing Ball, to be precise. His vision was failing, and keeping his eyes focused on a page had become exhausting and painful, often bringing on crushing headaches. He had been forced to curtail his writing, and he feared that he would soon have to give it up. The typewriter rescued him, at least for a time. Once he had mastered touch-typing, he was able to write with his eyes closed, using only the tips of his fingers. Words could once again flow from his mind to the page.

But the machine had a subtler effect on his work. One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed a change in the style of his writing. His already terse prose had become even tighter, more telegraphic. “Perhaps you will through this instrument even take to a new idiom,” the friend wrote in a letter, noting that, in his own work, his “‘thoughts’ in music and language often depend on the quality of pen and paper.”

Also see:

Living With a Computer

(July 1982)
"The process works this way. When I sit down to write a letter or start the first draft of an article, I simply type on the keyboard and the words appear on the screen..." By James Fallows

“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

As we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”—the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities—we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies. The mechanical clock, which came into common use in the 14th century, provides a compelling example. In Technics and Civilization, the historian and cultural critic Lewis Mumford described how the clock “disassociated time from human events and helped create the belief in an independent world of mathematically measurable sequences.” The “abstract framework of divided time” became “the point of reference for both action and thought.”

The clock’s methodical ticking helped bring into being the scientific mind and the scientific man. But it also took something away. As the late MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum observed in his 1976 book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation, the conception of the world that emerged from the widespread use of timekeeping instruments “remains an impoverished version of the older one, for it rests on a rejection of those direct experiences that formed the basis for, and indeed constituted, the old reality.” In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

The process of adapting to new intellectual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating “like clockwork.” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “like computers.” But the changes, neuroscience tells us, go much deeper than metaphor. Thanks to our brain’s plasticity, the adaptation occurs also at a biological level.

The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition. In a paper published in 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing proved that a digital computer, which at the time existed only as a theoretical machine, could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

The Net’s influence doesn’t end at the edges of a computer screen, either. As people’s minds become attuned to the crazy quilt of Internet media, traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations. Television programs add text crawls and pop-up ads, and magazines and newspapers shorten their articles, introduce capsule summaries, and crowd their pages with easy-to-browse info-snippets. When, in March of this year, TheNew York Times decided to devote the second and third pages of every edition to article abstracts, its design director, Tom Bodkin, explained that the “shortcuts” would give harried readers a quick “taste” of the day’s news, sparing them the “less efficient” method of actually turning the pages and reading the articles. Old media have little choice but to play by the new-media rules.

Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today. Yet, for all that’s been written about the Net, there’s been little consideration of how, exactly, it’s reprogramming us. The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure.

About the same time that Nietzsche started using his typewriter, an earnest young man named Frederick Winslow Taylor carried a stopwatch into the Midvale Steel plant in Philadelphia and began a historic series of experiments aimed at improving the efficiency of the plant’s machinists. With the approval of Midvale’s owners, he recruited a group of factory hands, set them to work on various metalworking machines, and recorded and timed their every movement as well as the operations of the machines. By breaking down every job into a sequence of small, discrete steps and then testing different ways of performing each one, Taylor created a set of precise instructions—an “algorithm,” we might say today—for how each worker should work. Midvale’s employees grumbled about the strict new regime, claiming that it turned them into little more than automatons, but the factory’s productivity soared.

More than a hundred years after the invention of the steam engine, the Industrial Revolution had at last found its philosophy and its philosopher. Taylor’s tight industrial choreography—his “system,” as he liked to call it—was embraced by manufacturers throughout the country and, in time, around the world. Seeking maximum speed, maximum efficiency, and maximum output, factory owners used time-and-motion studies to organize their work and configure the jobs of their workers. The goal, as Taylor defined it in his celebrated 1911 treatise, The Principles of Scientific Management, was to identify and adopt, for every job, the “one best method” of work and thereby to effect “the gradual substitution of science for rule of thumb throughout the mechanic arts.” Once his system was applied to all acts of manual labor, Taylor assured his followers, it would bring about a restructuring not only of industry but of society, creating a utopia of perfect efficiency. “In the past the man has been first,” he declared; “in the future the system must be first.”

Taylor’s system is still very much with us; it remains the ethic of industrial manufacturing. And now, thanks to the growing power that computer engineers and software coders wield over our intellectual lives, Taylor’s ethic is beginning to govern the realm of the mind as well. The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Google’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California—the Googleplex—is the Internet’s high church, and the religion practiced inside its walls is Taylorism. Google, says its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, is “a company that’s founded around the science of measurement,” and it is striving to “systematize everything” it does. Drawing on the terabytes of behavioral data it collects through its search engine and other sites, it carries out thousands of experiments a day, according to the Harvard Business Review, and it uses the results to refine the algorithms that increasingly control how people find information and extract meaning from it. What Taylor did for the work of the hand, Google is doing for the work of the mind.

The company has declared that its mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It seeks to develop “the perfect search engine,” which it defines as something that “understands exactly what you mean and gives you back exactly what you want.” In Google’s view, information is a kind of commodity, a utilitarian resource that can be mined and processed with industrial efficiency. The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.

Where does it end? Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains. “The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.” In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.” Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is “really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.”

Such an ambition is a natural one, even an admirable one, for a pair of math whizzes with vast quantities of cash at their disposal and a small army of computer scientists in their employ. A fundamentally scientific enterprise, Google is motivated by a desire to use technology, in Eric Schmidt’s words, “to solve problems that have never been solved before,” and artificial intelligence is the hardest problem out there. Why wouldn’t Brin and Page want to be the ones to crack it?

Still, their easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence is unsettling. It suggests a belief that intelligence is the output of a mechanical process, a series of discrete steps that can be isolated, measured, and optimized. In Google’s world, the world we enter when we go online, there’s little place for the fuzziness of contemplation. Ambiguity is not an opening for insight but a bug to be fixed. The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.

The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as well. The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

Maybe I’m just a worrywart. Just as there’s a tendency to glorify technological progress, there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine. In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates bemoaned the development of writing. He feared that, as people came to rely on the written word as a substitute for the knowledge they used to carry inside their heads, they would, in the words of one of the dialogue’s characters, “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” And because they would be able to “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction,” they would “be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant.” They would be “filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom.” Socrates wasn’t wrong—the new technology did often have the effects he feared—but he was shortsighted. He couldn’t foresee the many ways that writing and reading would serve to spread information, spur fresh ideas, and expand human knowledge (if not wisdom).

The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery. As New York University professor Clay Shirky notes, “Most of the arguments made against the printing press were correct, even prescient.” But, again, the doomsayers were unable to imagine the myriad blessings that the printed word would deliver.

So, yes, you should be skeptical of my skepticism. Perhaps those who dismiss critics of the Internet as Luddites or nostalgists will be proved correct, and from our hyperactive, data-stoked minds will spring a golden age of intellectual discovery and universal wisdom. Then again, the Net isn’t the alphabet, and although it may replace the printing press, it produces something altogether different. The kind of deep reading that a sequence of printed pages promotes is valuable not just for the knowledge we acquire from the author’s words but for the intellectual vibrations those words set off within our own minds. In the quiet spaces opened up by the sustained, undistracted reading of a book, or by any other act of contemplation, for that matter, we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas. Deep reading, as Maryanne Wolf argues, is indistinguishable from deep thinking.

If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content,” we will sacrifice something important not only in our selves but in our culture. In a recent essay, the playwright Richard Foreman eloquently described what’s at stake:

I come from a tradition of Western culture, in which the ideal (my ideal) was the complex, dense and “cathedral-like” structure of the highly educated and articulate personality—a man or woman who carried inside themselves a personally constructed and unique version of the entire heritage of the West. [But now] I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the “instantly available.”

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

I’m haunted by that scene in 2001. What makes it so poignant, and so weird, is the computer’s emotional response to the disassembly of its mind: its despair as one circuit after another goes dark, its childlike pleading with the astronaut—“I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m afraid”—and its final reversion to what can only be called a state of innocence. HAL’s outpouring of feeling contrasts with the emotionlessness that characterizes the human figures in the film, who go about their business with an almost robotic efficiency. Their thoughts and actions feel scripted, as if they’re following the steps of an algorithm. In the world of 2001, people have become so machinelike that the most human character turns out to be a machine. That’s the essence of Kubrick’s dark prophecy: as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence.

Nicholas Carr’s most recent book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, was published earlier this year.

2008-07-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

So You Think You Can Dance?:

PET Scans Reveal Your Brain's Inner Choreography Recent brain-imaging studies reveal some of the complex neural choreography behind our ability to dance
By Steven Brown and Lawrence M. Parsons

So natural is our capacity for rhythm that most of us take it for granted: when we hear music, we tap our feet to the beat or rock and sway, often unaware that we are even moving. But this instinct is, for all intents and purposes, an evolutionary novelty among humans. Nothing comparable occurs in other mammals nor probably elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Our talent for unconscious entrainment lies at the core of dance, a confluence of movement, rhythm and gestural representation. By far the most synchronized group practice, dance demands a type of interpersonal coordination in space and time that is almost nonexistent in other social contexts.

Even though dance is a fundamental form of human expression, neuroscientists have given it relatively little consideration. Recently, however, researchers have conducted the first brain-imaging studies of both amateur and professional dancers. These investigations address such questions as, How do dancers navigate though space? How do they pace their steps? How do people learn complex series of patterned movements? The results offer an intriguing glimpse into the complicated mental coordination required to execute even the most basic dance steps.

I Got Rhythm
Neuroscientists have long studied isolated movements such as ankle rotations or finger tapping. From this work we know the basics of how the brain orchestrates simple actions. To hop on one foot—never mind patting your head at the same time—requires calculations relating to spatial awareness, balance, intention and timing, among other things, in the brain’s sensorimotor system. In a simplified version of the story, a region called the posterior parietal cortex (toward the back of the brain) translates visual information into motor commands, sending signals forward to motion-planning areas in the premotor cortex and supplementary motor area. These instructions then project to the primary motor cortex, which generates neural impulses that travel to the spinal cord and on to the muscles to make them contract.

At the same time, sensory organs in the muscles provide feedback to the brain, giving the body’s exact orientation in space via nerves that pass through the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex. Subcortical circuits in the cerebellum at the back of the brain and in the basal ganglia at the brain’s core also help to update motor commands based on sensory feedback and to refine our actual motions. What has remained unclear is whether these same neural mechanisms scale up to enable maneuvers as graceful as, say, a pirouette.

To explore that question, we conducted the first neuroimaging study of dance movement, in conjunction with our colleague Michael J. Martinez of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, using amateur tango dancers as subjects. We scanned the brains of five men and five women using positron-emission tomography, which records changes in cerebral blood flow following changes in brain activity; researchers interpret increased blood flow in a specific region as a sign of greater activity among neurons there. Our subjects lay flat inside the scanner, with their heads immobilized, but they were able to move their legs and glide their feet along an inclined surface. First, we asked them to execute a box step, derived from the basic salida step of the Argentine tango, pacing their movements to the beat of instrumental tango songs, which they heard through headphones. We then scanned our dancers while they flexed their leg muscles in time to the music without actually moving their legs. By subtracting the brain activity elicited by this plain flexing from that recorded while they “danced,” we were able to home in on brain areas vital to directing the legs through space and generating specific movement patterns.

As anticipated, this comparison eliminated many of the basic motor areas of the brain. What remained, though, was a part of the parietal lobe, which contributes to spatial perception and orientation in both humans and other mammals. In dance, spatial cognition is primarily kinesthetic: you sense the positioning of your torso and limbs at all times, even with your eyes shut, thanks to the muscles’ sensory organs. These organs index the rotation of each joint and the tension in each muscle and relay that information to the brain, which generates an articulated body representation in response. Specifically, we saw activation in the precuneus, a parietal lobe region very close to where the kinesthetic representation of the legs resides. We believe that the precuneus contains a kinesthetic map that permits an awareness of body positioning in space while people navigate through their surroundings. Whether you are waltzing or simply walking a straight line, the precuneus helps to plot your path and does so from a body-centered or “egocentric” perspective.

Next we compared our dance scans to those taken while our subjects performed tango steps in the absence of music. By eliminating brain regions that the two tasks activated in common, we hoped to reveal areas critical for the synchronization of movement to music. Again this subtraction removed virtually all the brain’s motor areas. The principal difference occurred in a part of the cerebellum that receives input from the spinal cord. Although both conditions engaged this area—the anterior vermis—dance steps synchronized to music generated significantly more blood flow there than self-paced dancing did.

Albeit preliminary, our result lends credence to the hypothesis that this part of the cerebellum serves as a kind of conductor monitoring information across various brain regions to assist in orchestrating actions [see “Rethinking the Lesser Brain,” by James M. Bower and Lawrence M. Parsons; Scientific American, August 2003]. The cerebellum as a whole meets criteria for a good neural metronome: it receives a broad array of sensory inputs from the auditory, visual and somatosensory cortical systems (a capability that is necessary to entrain movements to diverse stimuli, from sounds to sights to touches), and it contains sensorimotor representations for the entire body.

Unexpectedly, our second analysis also shed light on the natural tendency that humans have to tap their feet unconsciously to a musical beat. In comparing the synchronized scans with the self-paced ones, we found that a lower part of the auditory pathway, a subcortical structure called the medial geniculate nucleus (MGN), lit up only during the former set. At first we assumed that this result merely reflected the presence of an auditory stimulus—namely, music—in the synchronized condition, but another set of control scans ruled out this interpretation: when our subjects listened to music but did not move their legs, we detected no blood flow change in the MGN.

Thus, we concluded that MGN activity related specifically to synchronization and not simply listening. This finding led us to postulate a “low road” hypothesis that unconscious entrainment occurs when a neural auditory message projects directly to the auditory and timing circuits in the cerebellum, bypassing high-level auditory areas in the cerebral cortex.

So You Think You Can Dance?
Other parts of the brain engage when we watch and learn dance movements. Beatriz Calvo-Merino and Patrick Haggard of University College London and their colleagues investigated whether specific brain areas become active preferentially when people view dances they have mastered. That is, are there brain areas that switch on when ballet dancers watch ballet but not, say, capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art stylized as a dance and performed to music)?

To find out, the team took functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of ballet dancers, capoeira dancers and nondancers as they viewed three-second, silent video clips of either ballet or capoeira movements. The researchers found that expertise had a major influence on the premotor cortex: activity there increased only when subjects viewed dances that they themselves could execute. Other work offers a likely explanation. Investigators have found that when people watch simple actions, areas in the premotor cortex involved in performing those actions switch on, suggesting that we mentally rehearse what we see—a practice that might help us learn and understand new movements. Researchers are examining how widely humans rely on such imitation circuits.

In follow-up work, Calvo-Merino and her colleagues compared the brains of male and female ballet dancers as they watched video clips of either male or female dancers performing gender-specific steps. Again, the highest activity levels in the premotor cortex corresponded to men viewing the male-only moves and to women viewing the female-only moves.

The ability to rehearse a movement in your mind is indeed vital to learning motor skills. In 2006 Emily S. Cross, Scott T. Grafton and their colleagues at Dartmouth College considered whether imitation circuits in the brain increase their activity as learning takes place. Over the course of several weeks, the team took weekly functional MRI scans of dancers as they learned a complex modern dance sequence. During the scans, subjects viewed five-second clips that exhibited either the movements they were mastering or other, unrelated steps. After each clip, the subjects rated how well they thought they could execute the movements they saw. The results affirmed those of Calvo-Merino and her colleagues. Activity in the premotor cortex increased during training and was indeed correlated to the subjects’ assessments of their ability to perform a viewed dance segment.

Both investigations highlight the fact that learning a complex motor sequence activates, in addition to a direct motor system for the control of muscle contractions, a motor-planning system that contains information about the body’s ability to accomplish a specific movement. The more expert people become at some motor pattern, the better they can imagine how that pattern feels and the more effortless it probably becomes to carry out.

As our research shows, however, the ability to simulate a dance sequence—or tennis serve or golf swing—in the mind is not simply visual, as these studies might suggest; it is kinesthetic as well. Indeed, true mastery requires a muscle sense, a motor image, as it were, in the brain’s motion-planning areas of the movement in question.

Shake, Rattle and (Social) Role
Perhaps the most fascinating question for neuroscientists to explore is why people dance in the first place. Certainly music and dance are closely related; in many instances, dance generates sound. Aztec danzantes in Mexico City wear leggings containing seeds from the ayoyotl tree, called chachayotes, which make a sound with every step. In many other cultures, people put noise-making objects—from taps to castanets to beads—on their bodies or clothes while they dance. In addition, dancers frequently clap, snap and stomp. As a result, we have postulated a “body percussion” hypothesis that dance evolved initially as a sounding phenomenon and that dance and music, especially percussion, evolved together as complementary ways of generating rhythm. The first percussion instruments may well have been components of dancing regalia, not unlike Aztec chachayotes.

Unlike music, however, dance has a strong capacity for representation and imitation, which suggests that dance may have further served as an early form of language. Indeed, dance is the quintessential gesture language. It is interesting to note that during all the movement tasks in our study, we saw activation in a region of the right hemisphere corresponding to what is known as Broca’s area in the left hemisphere. Broca’s area is a part of the frontal lobe classically associated with speech production. In the past decade research has revealed that Broca’s area also contains a representation of the hands.

This finding bolsters the so-called gestural theory of language evolution, whose proponents argue that language evolved initially as a gesture system before becoming vocal. Our study is among the first to show that leg movement activates the right-hemisphere homologue to Broca’s area, which offers more support for the idea that dance began as a form of representational communication.

What role might the homologue to Broca’s area have in enabling a person to dance? The answer does not appear to involve speech directly. In a 2003 study Marco Iacoboni of the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues applied magnetic brain stimulation to disrupt function in either Broca’s area or its homologue. In both cases, their subjects were then less able to imitate finger movements using their right hand. Iacoboni’s group concluded that these areas are essential for imitation, a key ingredient in learning from others and in spreading culture. We have another hypothesis as well. Although our study did not involve imitative movements per se, dancing the tango and copying finger actions both demand that the brain correctly order series of interdependent movements. Just as Broca’s area helps us to correctly string together words and phrases, its homologue may serve to place units of movement into seamless sequences.

We hope that future neuroimaging studies will provide fresh insight into the brain mechanisms behind dance and its evolution, which is highly intertwined with the emergences of both language and music. We view dance as a marriage of the representational capacity of language and the rhythmicity of music. This interaction allows people not only to tell stories using their bodies but to do so while synchronizing their movements with others’ in a way that fosters social cohesion.

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Fishing in the Stream of Consciousness

2008-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are aware of them ourselves. The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision -- an eternity at the speed of thought.

Their findings challenge conventional notions of choice.

Corbis

"We think our decisions are conscious," said neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research. "But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't rule out free will, but it does make it implausible."

Through a series of intriguing experiments, scientists in Germany, Norway and the U.S. have analyzed the distinctive cerebral activity that foreshadows our choices. They have tracked telltale waves of change through the cells that orchestrate our memory, language, reason and self-awareness.

In ways we are only beginning to understand, the synapses and neurons in the human nervous system work in concert to perceive the world around them, to learn from their perceptions, to remember important experiences, to plan ahead, and to decide and act on incomplete information. In a rudimentary way, they predetermine our choices.

To probe what happens in the brain during the moments before people sense they've reached a decision, Dr. Haynes and his colleagues devised a deceptively simple experiment, reported in April in Nature Neuroscience. They monitored the swift neural currents coursing through the brains of student volunteers as they decided, at their own pace and at random, whether to push a button with their left or right hands.

In all, they tested seven men and seven women from 21 to 30 years old. They recorded neural changes associated with thoughts using a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine and analyzed the results with an experimental pattern-recognition computer program.

While inside the brain scanner, the students watched random letters stream across a screen. Whenever they felt the urge, they pressed a button with their right hand or a button with their left hand. Then they marked down the letter that had been on the screen in the instant they had decided to press the button.

Studying the brain behavior leading up to the moment of conscious decision, the researchers identified signals that let them know when the students had decided to move 10 seconds or so before the students knew it themselves. About 70% of the time, the researchers could also predict which button the students would push.

"It's quite eerie," said Dr. Haynes.

Other researchers have pursued the act of decision deeper into the subcurrents of the brain.

In experiments with laboratory animals reported this spring, Caltech neuroscientist Richard Anderson and his colleagues explored how the effort to plan a movement forces cells throughout the brain to work together, organizing a choice below the threshold of awareness. Tuning in on the electrical dialogue between working neurons, they pinpointed the cells of what they called a "free choice" brain circuit that in milliseconds synchronized scattered synapses to settle on a course of action.

"It suggests we are looking at this actual decision being made," Dr. Anderson said. "It is pretty fast."

And when those networks momentarily malfunction, people do make mistakes. Working independently, psychologist Tom Eichele at Norway's University of Bergen monitored brain activity in people performing routine tasks and discovered neural static -- waves of disruptive signals -- preceded an error by up to 30 seconds. "Thirty seconds is a long time," Dr. Eichele said.

Such experiments suggest that our best reasons for some choices we make are understood only by our cells. The findings lend credence to researchers who argue that many important decisions may be best made by going with our gut -- not by thinking about them too much.

Dutch researchers led by psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis at the University of Amsterdam recently found that people struggling to make relatively complicated consumer choices -- which car to buy, apartment to rent or vacation to take -- appeared to make sounder decisions when they were distracted and unable to focus consciously on the problem.

Moreover, the more factors to be considered in a decision, the more likely the unconscious brain handled it all better, they reported in the peer-reviewed journal Science in 2006. "The idea that conscious deliberation before making a decision is always good is simply one of those illusions consciousness creates for us," Dr. Dijksterhuis said.

Does this make our self-awareness just a second thought?

All this work to deconstruct the mental machinery of choice may be the best evidence of conscious free will. By measuring the brain's physical processes, the mind seeks to know itself through its reflection in the mirror of science.

"We are trying to understand who we are," said Antonio Damasio, director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, "by studying the organ that allows you to understand who you are."

To see this article in its original context:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121450609076407973.html?mod=yhoofront

MIND READING

2008-06-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Books
Is your freedom of choice an illusion?
Your brain knows what you're going to do 10 seconds before you are aware of it, neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes and his colleagues reported recently in Nature Neuroscience.
Last year In the journal Current Biology, the scientists reported they could use brain wave patterns to identify your intentions before you revealed them.
Their work builds on a landmark 1983 paper in the journal Brain by the late Benjamin Libet and his colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco, who found out that the brain initiates free choices about a third of a second before we are aware of them.
Together, these findings support the importance of the unconscious in shaping decisions. Psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis and his co-workers at the University of Amsterdam reported in the journal Science that it is not always best to deliberate too much before making a choice.
Nobel laureate Francis Crick -- co-discoverer of the structure of DNA -- tackled the implications of such cognitive science in his 1993 book The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul.
With co-author Giulio Tononi, Nobel laureate Gerald Edleman explores his biology-based theory of consciousness in A Universe Of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination.

2008-06-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The elderly fear breaking a hip when they fall, but a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences: Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls.

The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first comprehensive national look at the role brain injuries play in fatal elderly falls. It examined 16,000 deaths in 2005 that listed unintentional falls as an underlying cause of death.

CDC researchers found that slightly more than half of the deaths were attributed to brain injuries. The other deaths were due to a variety of causes including heart failure, strokes, infections and existing chronic conditions worsened by a broken hip or other injuries sustained in a fall.

"A lot of people don't think a fall is serious unless they broke a bone, they don't think it's serious unless they break a hip. They don't worry about their head," said Pat Flemming, a senior physical therapist and researcher at Vanderbilt University

Don't Miss

CDC: Injury Center

Each year, one in three Americans age 65 and older fall. About 30 percent of such falls require medical treatment.

Previous CDC research showed that the U.S. death rate from falling has risen dramatically -- about 55 percent -- for the elderly since the 1990s. The new study highlights the role that brain injuries play in such deaths.

As people age, veins and arteries can be more easily torn during a sudden blow or jolt to the head, said Marlena Wald, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the study.

That can cause a fatal brain bleed. Other factors can contribute, such as the use of blood-thinners, said Judy Stevens, another CDC researcher and co-author.

The severity of brain injuries isn't always immediately apparent, and some people may not lose consciousness. Wald noted a scenario seen in hospitals in which an elderly fall victim comes in alert and talking, but dies an hour or two later.

Health Library

MayoClinic.com: 6 ways to reduce your risk of falling

The study also found that deaths and hospitalization rates for fall-related brain injuries increased with age. Brain injuries accounted for about 8 percent of hospital stays for non-fatal falls.

There are several steps older Americans can take to try to prevent falls. Exercise can increase leg strength and balance. Glasses or other vision correction measures can help people avoid obstacles. And being careful with the use of drugs that can affect thinking and coordination -- such as tranquilizers and sleeping pills -- can also make a difference.

"Falls are not an inevitable consequence of aging. These head injuries are not inevitable, either," Wald said.

The research is being published in the June issue of a scientific publication, the Journal of Safety Research.

To view this article in its original context:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/06/24/elderly.falls.ap/index.html

What Foods Trigger Headaches and Migraines?

2008-06-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

Some of the most common foods, beverages, and additives associated with headaches include:

* Aged cheese and other tyramine-containing foods: Tyramine is a substance found naturally in some foods. It is formed from the breakdown of protein as foods age. Generally, the longer a high-protein food ages, the greater the tyramine content. The amount of tyramine in cheeses differs greatly due to the variations in processing, fermenting, aging, degradation, or even bacterial contamination. For people who take monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor medications to treat their headaches, it is especially important to avoid all foods containing tyramine, including aged cheeses, red wine, alcoholic beverages, and some processed meats, as these foods can trigger severe hypertension.
* Alcohol: Blood flow to your brain increases when you drink alcohol. Some scientists blame the headache on impurities in alcohol or by-products produced as your body metabolizes alcohol. Red wine, beer, whiskey, and champagne are the most commonly identified headache triggers.
* Food additives: Food preservatives (or additives) contained in certain foods can trigger headaches. The additives, nitrates and nitrites, dilate blood vessels, causing headaches in some people.

Cold foods: Cold foods can cause headaches in some people. It's more likely to occur if you are over-heated from exercise or hot temperatures. Pain, which is felt in the forehead, peaks 25 to 60 seconds and lasts from several seconds to one or two minutes. More than 90% of migraine sufferers report sensitivity to ice cream and cold substances.

Migraine Relief?

2008-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Can Migraines be Controlled?

— Kelsie Kenefick

Can migraines be controlled? In most cases, YES! The pain of migraines is so horrible that, to many, it seems almost impossible to believe that they are controllable. How could something so painful be controlled simply by bringing the nervous system back into balance... back to “homeostasis”?

To understand how it is possible to control your headaches, let me explain a bit about the physiology of migraine headaches and muscle tension headaches. In working with hundreds of sufferers over the years, I have found that all migraineurs have high muscle tension and, therefore, both issues must be addressed. Migraines have often been called “vascular” headaches. In other words, they have to do with the blood flow through the arteries. When the arteries over-dilate (open up too much), after having been constricted, the blood goes throbbing to the eyes and brain, causing these debilitating headaches. Muscle tension headaches, on the other hand, are caused by the muscles in the shoulders, neck, head, and face, tightening up, thereby causing the pain of these headaches.

Both types of headaches can be brought under control by controlling one's autonomic (or “automatic”) nervous system. This is the part of the nervous system that is usually not consciously controlled. For example, you do not usually consciously control your heart rate, but if you had a fast heart rate, or an irregular heart rate, I could teach you how to control that. I simply attach instruments to your body to measure certain body functions, and, with the feedback on the computer, I would coach you to control the readings. You are getting biological feedback, or “biofeedback” for short, on the screen.

Other things that normally are not consciously controlled include respiration, circulation, blood pressure, brain waves, muscle tension, digestion, sweat gland activity, and much more. Learning how to control the inner functionings of the body, and mind, is enormously empowering to people. People learn how to create health and well-being in their bodies, and these are skills they use, and benefit from, for the rest of their lives. It is so much fun to do!

You have likely heard of the “fight or flight” response. This is when the body goes into high gear after confronted with a real, or perceived, threat or danger. The body has this mechanism to protect itself. All animals have this. Centuries ago our dangers were more physical. We had to protect ourselves from lions, bears and other tribes. Adrenaline would go into the blood stream and give us super strength. This is a great thing in times of emergencies. The problem, nowadays, is that most people run on adrenaline way too much. Stress has become a global epidemic. And, most of our stressors now are psychological stressors so the tension does not get released from the body by running or fleeing. It is often held in.

Back to migraines! There are two things that happen in the body during the fight or flight response that contribute to migraines. First, all animals (including human animals) have an unconscious instinct to protect the throat when they perceive danger or stress. This is because animals are usually attacked at the throat. So, human animals tighten in the neck and shoulders first when they experience stress. This excess muscle tension can create muscle tension headaches and, additionally, contributes to the migraines by crimping the arteries.

Another thing that happens, to people who get migraines, is that their arteries constrict when they experience stress. The body unconsciously does this because if you were to be attacked, or cut, you would bleed less if the arteries were constricted. It is, again, the fight or flight response kicking in. Interestingly, the migraine does not occur when the person is under stress. It happens after the stress is over (usually). This is why the migraine may come on in the middle of the night, the first day of the weekend, or at the beginning of vacation. So, the muscle tension headaches occur when the person is under stress and the migraines occur when the person begins to relax.

People with migraines tend to have cold hands and feet. I teach them how to consciously warm their hands and feet; thereby opening, or dilating, their arteries. They need to keep their arteries dilated in order to prevent the migraines from occurring. I simply get a temperature reading on the surface of their skin. If their arteries are dilated I will see a reading of 93 degrees, or higher, on the surface. I train them how to keep their arteries dilated in order to prevent the migraines from occurring. Often when I start sessions with someone, their surface skin temperature will be in the low 80's. That is a lot of constriction!

Most of the people I work with are on a lot of medications when they first come. The triptans, such as Imitrex or Maxalt, cause the arteries to constrict. These medications are taken as the migraine is coming on to slow it down. Sometimes people crave caffeine when they feel a migraine coming on, for the same reason. The problem, then, is that rebound headaches can occur. In other words, the medications will constrict the arteries, giving temporary relief, but then when the arteries open up as the medication wears off, another migraine often occurs. Then the headaches get worse and worse as time goes on. Sometimes people get to the point where they have chronic daily headaches from medication overuse. The best thing is to learn how to control your nervous system as soon as possible so you don't get into this trap. Think of the medications as being a temporary solution while you take control.

When working with migraine sufferers, I first teach them some general skills for bringing their nervous system into balance (such as proper breathing, deep relaxation of the body and mind, imagery). The Wild Divine is, of course, a wonderful way for patients to practice general relaxation skills at home. Then, I teach them to bring certain muscles to “normal tension”. Every muscle has a normal level of tension that it should be at and it is measured in microvolts. I teach my patients how to bring their shoulder, neck, forehead, and sometimes the jaw muscles, to normal tension. Then, I teach them how to use their mind to help eliminate stress from their nervous system. Since every thought creates both a chemical change in the body and an electrical change in the nervous system, working with the mind is critical. Finally, I end the training with teaching my patients to dilate their arteries.

There are several ways in which migraine sufferers can start learning how to balance their nervous systems. You could see a biofeedback therapist, such as myself, who deals with these issues, Or, you can start learning meditation, imagery, or breathing techniques to calm the body-mind at home.

'Anger Control' Key to Recovery

2008-02-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

'Anger control' key to recovery

Learning to control your anger may also speed up the healing process after surgery, US research suggests.

The Brain Behavior and Immunity study indicates stress has a major impact on the body's ability to repair itself.

Nearly 100 participants were asked to rate how well they could control their temper, and the speed at which they recovered from a blister was monitored.

Hotheads were more than four times likely to take more than four days to heal than mild-mannered counterparts.

Your body prioritizes and sorts one thing out at a time, so if you are stressed your body works through that before it gets on with the process of healing

Steve Bloom
Imperial College London

The team at Ohio State University gave participants blisters on one of their arms and then monitored how the wound healed over the course of eight days.

They were asked to fill in a questionnaire which looked at how anger was expressed - whether externally, by shouting at others, for instance, or internally, when one rages insides but keeps a cool exterior.

They were also asked to judge their general ability to manage their anger.

Whether one directed one's anger externally or internally proved to have no bearing on recovery - what was crucial was just how much control the individual was able to exert over their feelings.

Those with low anger control produced higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which was in turn, associated with delayed healing.

"Such stress-induced delays in healing could increase the susceptibility to infection at the wound site, a process that fuels further decrease in the speed of repair," the team, led by Jean-Philippe Gouin, wrote.

They suggested that therapeutic strategies such as relaxation, or even cognitive therapy, could help those at risk make a swifter recovery.

Bedside manner

The team sought to ensure the association between anger control and healing was not explained by other health factors by taking into account sleep, amount of physical activity and alcohol consumption.

Four participants ended up being excluded because these details were missing, but for the rest of them, anger control still proved to be the most significant factor affecting recovery.

The findings also tally with others in the field of stress and recovery.

One study for example found women caring for a spouse or parent with dementia took on average 24% longer to heal a wound than a control group.

Another found that even marital spats could slow down recovery from a simple wound.

Steve Bloom, professor of metabolic medicine at Imperial College, London, said stress was now increasingly recognized as a factor in recovery rates.

"Your body prioritises and sorts one thing out at a time, so if you are stressed - angry in this case - your body works through that before it gets on with the process of healing.

"We've yet to see a study that categorically proves having an attentive, calming presence by your bedside actually speeds up your recovery, but the evidence is certainly pointing that way."

Stimulate your brain with simple yoga

2008-02-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

By Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If you're among the 2 percent of Pittsburgh's population too young to receive AARP magazine, you may have missed this essential tip to boost your brain function.

It's a simple yoga position that -- if practiced properly, and that's very important -- "is like putting more gas in your brain's tank," according to Eugenius Ang, a neurobiologist who was trained at Yale University.

But it sure looks silly.

The ancient Indian technique, promoted by Grand Master Choa Kok Sui, a Filipino-Chinese scientist and teacher, is supposed to develop and increase a person's intellectual capacity and sharpen memory and concentration. The exercise, according to preliminary studies, has helped improve concentration among children diagnosed with autism and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But it can help anyone of any age, he contends.

It all has to do with energy connection and ear acupuncture, with the right ear lobe corresponding to the left brain and the left ear lobe corresponding with the right brain.

Here's how to do it:

First, place your left hand on your right earlobe, with the left thumb on the outside of the lobe (facing away from you) and left index finger on the inside. This is supposed to create an energy connection that causes the left brain and pituitary gland to become energized and activated.

Then with your right hand, grasp your left earlobe in the same position as the other side. The right arm must be outside the left arm when they're crossed (which is supposed to help energy travel upward to the brain).

Gently press both earlobes simultaneously.

As you're pressing the earlobes, squat down, keeping your back straight, and do 10 to 12 deep bends (but don't kill your knees). While doing this, inhale through the nose on the way down and exhale through the mouth coming up.

AARP suggests placing a chair underneath yourself in case you lose your balance.

Oh, and repeat this exercise daily.

You can learn more about this exercise at www.superbrainyoga.com or in the book by the same name by Choa Kok Sui, published by the Institute for Inner Studies. Master Sui is known as the founder of the modern Pranic healing techniques, which is a way of harnessing the body's vital force and using it to balance and harmonize your strength and energy.

War, PTSD, and Brain Injury

2008-01-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sgt. Ryan Kahlor has the same nightmare every time, a vision of walls painted in blood and fat, and men on top of houses, throwing pieces of Marines' bodies off rooftops. It's a vision he can't shake, because he lived through it while deployed to Iraq last year.

Sgt. Ryan Kahlor survived four bomb blasts during his duty in Iraq and suffered concussions.

"I have nightmares. I dwell on it. I think about it all the time," said Kahlor, 24. "Staying asleep is hard. I associate a bed with the dreams I have. My parents think I'm crazy, but I sleep better when I'm on the floor."

Kahlor has post-traumatic stress disorder, which can develop after surviving a traumatic event in which a person is physically threatened or injured.

He also experienced concussions while surviving four explosions during his 14 months in Iraq. He said these events left him with a detached retina, vertigo, memory problems and dizziness.

A new military study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine says soldiers who suffered concussions in Iraq were not only at higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, but also that the depression and PTSD, not the head injuries, may be the cause of ongoing physical symptoms.

Five percent of the 2,500 soldiers surveyed by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research said they had concussions in which they lost consciousness during combat. Forty-four percent of these soldiers ended up with PTSD.

Researchers were surprised to find symptoms normally associated with concussions -- headaches, dizziness, irritability and memory problems -- were actually related to PTSD or depression.

"It isn't the combat exposure or physical injury, it's the PTSD that seems to drive these symptoms. That's a surprise," said Joseph A. Boscarino, Ph.D., who studies PTSD at the Geisinger Center for Health Research in Danville, Pennsylvania. "You would expect they would have these other symptoms related to traumatic brain injury, that maybe they have a permanent injury, but it's explained by whether they have PTSD or depression."

Health Library

MayoClinic.com: Traumatic brain injury

About 8 million American adults have PTSD. A 2003 New England Journal of Medicine Study found that 15 percent to 17 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were suffering from PTSD, and more than 60 percent of those showing symptoms were unlikely to seek help because of fears of stigmatization or loss of career advancement opportunities.

As of June 30, 2007, the Department of Defense reported 3,294 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs. Bomb blasts caused nearly 70 percent of those TBI cases.

Dr. James Kelly, a neurology professor at the University of Colorado and a co-author of guidelines the military uses to identify traumatic brain injury, expressed concerns that doctors will attribute lingering health problems to psychological issues.

"I think if people misunderstand or overextend beyond what this survey shows, they could dismiss true brain injury features as psychological only," Kelly said. "It would be a terrible disservice to our military for that to happen."

Kahlor is worried this study will make it harder for soldiers to get appropriate medical care.

"The military doesn't want to diagnose people with brain injury," he said. "So what they'll do is play it off as PTSD as the sole injury for everyone, because PTSD and traumatic brain injury have very similar symptoms," he said. "The disability [compensation] is a lot higher for traumatic brain injury. What the military is saying is, you can't be diagnosed from a brain injury unless you get better from PTSD. It's kind of like a paradox."

Kahlor says he has documents saying he has concussion injuries such as a detached retina, seizure activity in the brain, inner-ear expansion and post-concussion syndrome, which gives him bad headaches. Still, he has been unable to get an official diagnosis of traumatic brain injury.

"A doctor in Fort Irwin looked at me and glanced at my records for 10 minutes and wrote on my records that he thought my symptoms, my claims were psychosomatic, where I made them up myself," Kahlor said. "He's basically seen me once. He wanted to send me to a med board to get me out of the Army as soon as possible and pawn me off to the VA system."

In response to concerns that this study could make it more difficult for soldiers to get a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, study author Col. Charles Hoge said, "Hopefully it clarifies things a bit, that soldiers who have had concussions with loss of consciousness are at higher risk of PTSD. We want to make sure they are seen and get help. It also clarifies that the symptoms they are experiencing may be multiple reasons for that."

Kelly said one of the problems with the study is that it describes symptoms such as headache, dizziness and fatigue as possibly psychosomatic and related to PTSD and depression. But these are symptoms also commonly associated with postconcussive syndrome, he said.

"They don't know that these soldiers didn't have post-concussion syndrome," he said. "They are components of post-concussion syndrome and PTSD... It's absolutely confusing. My concern with this article is people can over-attribute all the lingering problems to psychological issues only, when it started with a biomechanical brain injury. I think it's unfair to unlink what happened to the brain and the psychological aftermath of what happened in that scenario."

In an accompanying editorial, Richard A. Bryant, Ph.D., says this study should encourage doctors to be more cautious when attributing health problems to mild traumatic brain injury, because PTSD and depression may be the problem.

"Incontrovertible evidence now shows that psychological factors play a significant role in postconcussive symptoms," Bryant said.

"Soldiers should not be led to believe that they have a brain injury that will result in permanent change."

He said the study also highlights the need for a clear definition of mild traumatic brain injury.

"The study retrospectively assesses for mild traumatic brain injury by inquiring about having a loss of consciousness, being dazed, or not remembering the inquiry. Each of these reactions can be attributed to acute stress," Bryant said.

Wellness programs are worth every dollar you spend

2008-01-28T07:03:00.000-08:00

Health-care costs aren't the only reason to have wellness programs. However, many companies dropped wellness programs in recent years as they turn to managed care health insurance plans.

This is short-sighted because managing health-care costs is one of four reasons wellness programs make economic sense. In addition to reducing demand for medical services, wellness programs provide economic benefit by reducing absenteeism, reducing on-the-job injuries and workers' compensation costs, and reducing disability-management costs.

Studies show employee absenteeism is reduced when wellness programs are implemented. In a study at Prudential Insurance, disability days were 20 percent lower and disability-per-capita costs were 32 percent lower after implementing a wellness program. In addition, annual medical costs fell by 46 percent.

According to a study of a wellness program at Providence General Medical Center, per-capita workers' comp costs were reduced 83 percent and other savings were realized in reduced sick leave and health-care costs, thanks to implementation of a wellness program.

These studies document tangible economic benefit from wellness programs. Intangible benefits may be even more important to an organization's overall health: Increased productivity is one of the most important benefits of operating a business with fit, healthy employees.

Wellness programs also help to recruit and retain the most effective, productive employees. Studies show a correlation between employees who seek out corporate wellness programs and the most productive workers. Morale is another benefit of a wellness program. These programs are inexpensive ways to show employees the organization is interested in them as total persons.

At a time of reduced job security, wellness programs provide a spark of good will and foster the all-important message of self-responsibility.

Businesses contract with managed care firms to control health-care costs. The employer, however, takes a passive role by shifting the risk of controlling costs to the HMO or insurance company. In the long run, costs will be shifted back to consumers and the employer through increasing premiums and costs, or decreased services.

In recent years, competition is responsible mainly for keeping health-care inflation under control but resulting shakeouts and mergers will cause prices for medical services to rise again.

Corporations that once jettisoned wellness programs may find their employee base is less healthy.

This column first appeared in the Denver Business Journal. Miriam Sims is a consultant with Denver-based Health Promotion Management Inc.

2008-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Conscious Breath

Begin by paying attention
to your next few breaths.
Even as you continue to read these words,
also notice your breathing
and that you can easily read and breathe
and practice awareness of breath,
all in the same moment.
Pay attention to the quality of each inhale.
Even as you read, notice the feelings and
sensations of breath flowing into your body.
Feel the places in your torso that move
or do not move with each inhalation.
Pay attention to the quality of each exhale.
Even as you read, notice the feelings and
sensations of breath flowing from your body.
Feel the places in your torso that move
or do not move with each exhalation.
Now return to the top of this page
and read through again,
paying close attention to the ebb and flow
of each breath, even as you pay
close attention to the sound and meaning
of each word, and for a minute or so,
simply pay attention to yourself breathing,
eyes closing for a few more breaths . . .

2008-01-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

May peace fill all the empty spaces around you
And in you, may contentment answer all your wishes.
May comfort be yours, warm and soft like a sigh.
And may the coming year
show you that every day is really a first day,
a new year.
Let abundance be your constant companion,
so that you have much to share.
May mirth be near you always,
like a lamp shining on the paths you travel.

Happy New Year to All!

A new year is beginning. Days are starting to lengthen. There is still cold weather ahead, but the movement is toward light.

Roots deep in the earth are already preparing for Spring.

It's a time of remembrance and anticipation; new beginnings, new plans, new goals, new directions...as well as thoughts of where we have been.

What will be your direction, your bearing, as the year starts to unfold?

It's an exhilarating time. The world is moving faster than ever. We are networked in a way that would have been considered science fiction only a few years ago. Distance is no longer a boundary for communication or commerce, national boundaries are becoming less and less important.

There is no longer a "Them". There is only "Us". In a very real, and growing, sense we are all intimately, and inextricably connected.

Our society is changing at such a rapid rate that it impossible to say with any certainty what our lives will be like twenty years from now.

Around the new year you start to hear a lot of grand plans. The big projects for the new year. Complex strategies for "Getting it Right this time".

Maybe there is a more direct approach....maybe something simpler is needed in a time where our picture of "The Future" can change in a moment.

The only thing that we can change or improve with any certainty is ourselves.

We all need to be Healthy and Kind.

We all need to help others be Healthy and Kind.

All the world's wisdom traditions teach that loving-kindness is the path to wisdom, peace, and the resolution of suffering.

These isn't something that requires wealth to practice, or position, or facilities. The place to start practicing is right here, and right now.

And if the intent of all of us is to become healthier, and kinder (and wiser)...

I can't see how it could have anything but a good influence on the future that we create in this New Year.

Wiley

Feeling Better

2007-12-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

Take a look at your shoes. What reasons did you have for buying them? Was it the style or color? Or maybe the price was right. Regardless, there's a good chance you bought them because you were convinced you would feel better once you owned those shoes.

Think about all the choices we make: the new job; the new cell phone; last night's dessert; next summer’s vacation. Each choice represents a missing piece in our quest for happiness.

We all want to feel better more often. It's what motivates us to do just about everything. Whether it's the latest style, a tropical beach or a piece of chocolate, we're telling ourselves that when we have it, we will feel better.

Trouble is the feeling is often fleeting. Very soon we’re on to the next 'must have' on the list. This is the one. This one will do it. How long is your list?

If you want to feel better more often, then feel better more often. Sound too simple? Well, the truth is you create the feeling; not the sunset, not the perfect boss and certainly not another pair of shoes. When you feel better first you get what you want first! Then something happens to your choices. They become 'add ons' rather than 'must haves'. And you may be surprised to find out you really don't need those shoes!

My wish for you this holiday season is that you discover how to create the feelings you want inside yourself and find your own peace on earth!

Levels of Consciousness

2007-12-20T13:32:00.001-08:00

As this illusory, localized point of view understands it, within space and time.

1) Deep Dreamless Sleep
Some consciousness exists. We can be roused by sound, touch or some other external stimuli.

2) Dreams
The subtle body expresses itself. There are thoughts, images, even insights, but the self is not grounded in physical reality or the rationality of logic.

3) Waking
The world of the 5 senses. A physical connection exists between inner and outer worlds, and though reality is interpreted in terms of self/not-self, an understanding of common experience exists. Most people seem to cycle between sleep and wake, but seldom look at the other levels.

4) The Glimpse of the Soul
The window into the infinite. It is realized that the seeker IS that which is sought. It is realized that there is an observer in the midst of the observation. There is that which is observed (body/events/objects), the process of observing (Mind), and the Observer (soul), the unchanging part that is neither body or mind.

5) The Awakened Soul
The observer is awake at all times. It is the being in the world but not of the world. There is local perception with awareness of the non-local nature of being. Waking, sleeping, eating, dreaming...the observer is still aware.

6) Divine Consciousness
Cognition and perception at the level of the senses that things are not what they seem. The embodiment of spirit is recognized in all aspects of creation. There is realization that all experience; beauty, love, anger, aversion is a co-creation of the observer and that which is observed.

7) Unity of Spirit
Merging with the spirit of all other objects and phenomena. I'm not in the body, the body is in me. I'm not in the universe, the universe is in me ... I Am that I Am.

All that arises is the Universe momentarily pretending that it has a localized point of view, for the simple joy of creation and existence.

8)

2007-12-20T10:06:00.001-08:00

There has been a lot of conversation about misogi exercises on the Aikido-L mailing list lately.

This is interesting timing. I have just found a couple misogi breathing exercises on the Wisdom Quest biofeedback game.

They are interesting exercises, not very different from some of the misogi breathing exercises I've learned in Aikido. What further interest me is the fact that the biofeedback algorithms in the program indicate a high degree of physiological coherence develops when the exercises are performed. The algorithms in the series were licensed from Heartmath, which has a phenomenally good track record for for solid research and clinical results.

Here are the exercises, they are referred to as the "Three Diamonds" in the game.

The Sky (Heaven) Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed, upright, manner, with feet approximately shoulder width apart and weigh evenly distributed between your feet.

- Visualize a ball of energy directly over your head.

-Place your hands on either side of the ball, lightly cupping it.

-On the in-breath, move the ball from over your head to your seika tanden, follow the motion with your hands, keeping your palms facing each other, and lightly cupped. Keep your hands close to your body and symmetrical.

-On the out-breath, move the ball from the seika tanden to the top of the head.

- Repeat 9 times

- Perform the exercise with a feeling of light, expansive energy.

This breath is to develop intuitive, sharp awareness and stillness within.

The Earth Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed, conscious manner with feet shoulder width apart.

- Focus on the center of the Earth. Experience the cooling power of the planet. Allow your body to sink, without movement, toward the the center of the planet, the point that gravity pulls objects toward.

- Place your hands in a relaxed position lightly

- on the in-breath, strengthen the connection between the center of the Earth to your seika tanden.

- On the out-breath, maintain the strength of the connection, allowing your balance to unify with its connection to the center of the earth.

- Repeat 9 times.

The energy of this exercise is heavy, powerful and grounding.

This exercise develops physical and mental strength, focus and perseverence.

The Heart Breath:

- Stand in a relaxed balance manner, feet shoulder width.

- Extend your arms as if you were embracing the trunk of a great tree.

- Bend your knees, and on the in-breath gather the energy of the earth to the region of your heart as you return to standing.

- On the out-breath, turn your palms away from you and and let a feeling of universal lovingkindness and compassion emanate from the region of your heart.

- Start with you hands higher on the next in-breath. Gather the energy of the heavens into the region of your heart.

- On the out-breath, again, turn your palms away from you, emanating lovingkindness and compassion.

Repeat these alternating breaths for 9 cycles.

Shine with radiant light and forgiveness during during this breath. This is the polishing of the self, the balancing of the mind and body, the point of balance of Earth and Heaven.

Hints:
As you are standing and centering before each exercise in this series, feel for the rhythm of your heart. Develop an awareness of it in your hands, seika tanden, and head. Sync the breaths in this exercise with your heartbeat. Approximately 5 beats for the in-breath, approximately 5 beats for the out-breath. The in-breath will be slightly shorter, the heart rate will increase slightly on the in-breath and slow on the out-breath, but keep the 5:1 ratio.

The respiration rate will probably settle to around 6 breaths per minute. Don't force the depth of the breaths, listen to what your body calls for. If your body calls for more air, deepen your breathing, but keep the 5:1 ratio. Don't over-breathe either. Let your body naturally call for what it needs.

2007-10-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article that was in my Wild Divine newsletter this month.
I recently got a copy of Healing Rhythms from the company, and I've been playing around with it.

The system is based on Galvanic Skin Sesponse and Heart Rhythm Coherence biofeedback.

The original research on Heart Rhythm Coherence was performed by The Institute of Heartmath.

Strangely, neither the original research, or HeartMath, is mentioned in the WildDivine literature. Hmmm...

But I must admit, they have come up with well designed and well packaged products.

The Healing Rhythms system is a collection of guided meditations on breath, heart, mindfulness, and positive emotional states. The following article reviews some medical information that supports the usefulness of this type of feedback:

Heart Disease: it is partially in your head

-Harvard Health

For worse or for better, how you think, feel, and live your life affects your heart.

Intimate connections between the heart and mind were once taken for granted. In some cultures, the heart was believed to be the seat and source of emotions. As Western medicine gradually unraveled these connections, heart and mind drifted apart. A new field, behavioral cardiology, is trying to stitch them together again, this time with strong scientific threads.

This work is opening up new ways to prevent and treat heart disease that will be good for the mind and the rest of the body.

Psychosocial factors For better or for worse, your emotions and moods, and even parts of your personality, can influence your heart. It isnt a one-way street. The health of your circulatory system can affect how you feel. Habits that are good for the heart seem to be good for the mind and brain, too.

Psychological factors and social factors are sometimes lumped together as psychosocial factors. They affect heart disease in two basic ways. Some contribute to atherosclerosis, the slow, corrosive process that damages artery walls and puts you at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Others can add the final insult that triggers a heart attack or stroke.

Chemical conversations between the heart and the head affect both. Depression, stress, loneliness, a positive outlook, and other psychosocial factors influence the heart. The health of the heart can affect the brain and the mind.

Psychosocial factors arent small potatoes. According to a comprehensive international study reported in The Lancet in 2004, their contribution to heart attacks is on a par with smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol problems. This isnt just in the stress-obsessed West, but in the Middle East, China and Hong Kong, Latin America, and Africa, too.

Depression. Symptoms of depression, as well as full-blown major depression, contribute to heart disease. People who become depressed after a heart attack or stroke, heart surgery, or the onset of heart failure dont fare as well as those who arent depressed.

Anger/hostility. Atherosclerosis seems to advance faster in people who score high on anger or hostility scales. Anger can also trigger heart attacks. In the Harvard-based Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study, 1 in every 40 heart attack survivors reported an episode of anger in the two hours before the attack.

Anxiety. Intense anxiety, the kind associated with fear of enclosed places, heights, crowds, and the like, can sometimes set off a sudden cardiac arrest. These often-fatal heart attacks happen when the heartbeat abruptly turns fast and uncoordinated.

Social support. Among heart attack survivors, social isolation is almost as important as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking at predicting long-term survival.

Chronic stress. Constant stress from work, financial problems, a troubled marriage, taking care of a parent or partner, or even living in an unsafe neighborhood has been linked with the development of heart disease and doing poorer with it.

Sudden emotional stress. Sudden emotional turmoil can set off a type of serious but reversible heart failure dubbed broken heart syndrome. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have documented its appearance in people after a death in the family, a surprise party, a robbery, a car accident, and even fear of speaking in public.

Whats the connection? How do emotions, behaviors, or social situations promote heart disease or make it worse? No one really knows. But there are plenty of theories.

Stress hormones top the list. They constrict blood vessels, speed up the heartbeat, and make the heart and blood vessels especially reactive to further stress. Psychosocial factors have also been linked with increases in C-reactive protein, interleukin-1, and tumor necrosis factor. These signal increased inflammation, which plays important roles in artery-clogging atherosclerosis.

Psychosocial factors could influence heart disease via a less physiologic route, through habits that tip one toward heart disease or away from it. Depression or isolation, for example, can keep people from taking the heart medications they need, while a positive outlook or strong social network can help people stop smoking or watch their weight.

What to do Most psychosocial risk factors are neither bad nor good. A little dose of stress, for example, can motivate you to face a challenge or finish a project. Constant stress, though, can be harmful. The same can be said for anger, anxiety, or isolation.The point is not to eliminate particular negative emotions, but to regulate them better, either to integrate them or bring them into balance with positive emotions or behaviors,says Dr. Laura Kubzansky, an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health whose research focuses on the role of stress and emotion in cardiovascular disease and aging.

Getting started isnt easy. Admitting to yourself that youre chronically worried, stressed, sad, angry, or alone is hard. Telling someone else, like your doctor, is even harder. But its an important first step.

There is no one-size-fits-all way to make changes. Some people can do it on their own. Beginning (and sticking with) daily exercise can be a great way to ease stress or beat depression. A do-it-yourself program like the one described in Mind Your Heart, by Aggie Casey and Herbert Benson of the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass., offers help with stress management, relaxation, and healthier habits. Just taking more vacation time might help.

Many people, though, need the kind of help that comes with talk therapy or formal, structured behavior modification programs.

The connection between psychosocial factors and heart disease is so strong that todays cardiologists should start the discussion by asking their patients about moods, energy, stress, and support. Most dont, at least not yet.

If yours doesnt, its worth bringing up these issues yourself. Your doctor might extend the conversation, offer good suggestions, or gather information you can use. Because cardiologists and primary care physicians get little training in this area, though, dont be surprised if yours is uncomfortable talking about depression, anger, loneliness, or other psychosocial factors, or doesnt know how to help. If thats the case, dont hesitate to ask for a referral to a mental health professional.

Dr. Kubzansky calls anger, depression, chronic stress, loneliness, and other negative psychosocial factors a signal that there is a problem, much like that of chronic pain. Its time to treat them with the same urgency and respect.

As a side note, I showed the software to a couple of the monks at the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center.

They liked it. They thought that it was a good way to introduce Anapanasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) meditation.

That is not a small statement coming from a Theravada monk, since according to the Buddha:

"Anapanasati bhikkhave bhavita bahulikata cattaro satipatthane paripurenti. Cattaro satipatthana bhavita bahulikata satta b ojjhange paripurenti. S atta
b ojjhanga b havita b ahulikata vijjavimutti paripurenti"

"O monks, when mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness. When the four establishments of mindfulness are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment. When the seven factors of enlightenment are cultivated and developed, they fulfill knowledge and deliverance"

I've also hooked a couple of the monks up to the HeartMath emwave PC system.
I gave them no instructions other than "sit and breath as you normally would during meditation".

They immediately showed high coherence scores. Scores that most people don't get without a fair amount of practice using the system.

I'm becoming convinced that I need to incorporate more of this type of biofeedback into my practice(s)...both my professional practice and my personal practice.

those that forget the past....

2007-10-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

The history of the valley that I live in; The "Westinghouse Valley" continues to amaze me.
this week, Jill took me to the "Atom Smasher" in Forest Hills. She was actually taking me to the Kar Hing Restaurant for a Szezchuan dinner and a couple of TsingTao Beers, but it is within a stone's throw of the Atom Smasher.

This was the worlds first industrial particle accelerator. It was built in 1937, significantly before nuclear power was a practical reality. Today it is another decaying, abandoned industrial facility in Pittsburgh. It will possibly be demolished in the near future...another loss to world history. I took a number of pictures of the site with Jill's camera. i'll post some of them when I get them.

I was able to take a few photographs of the demolition of the KDKA building; the site of the worlds first commercial radio broadcast. These are the photos that are included with this post.

The building took several weeks to demolish. It fought the demolition every step of the way....Says something about the comparative quality of recent buildings.

But the building is gone now...

Truly a loss to history.
Not just local history but world history.

Mindfulness

2007-09-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that LENS neurofeedback is, in many ways, technologically assisted vipassana meditation.

Vipassana is one of the oldest methods of Buddhist meditation, and is a central meditative practice of Theravada Buddhists.

Joseph Goldstein is a well known American teacher of vipassana meditation. Here is a link to a soundfile of Goldstein giving basic vipassana instructions and leading a meditation practice.

Dropping your tailbone

2007-09-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

The following is a post that I have plagiarized from the venerable Aikido-L mailing list:

The original post is from John Costello, and it was answered by Pauliina Lievonen.
Pauliina is an Alexander Technique teacher as well as an experienced aikido practitioner.

the discussion is about a very common postural distortion found in NMT practices, and I think that Pauliina did a great job of answering John's inquiry.

John:
I've been reading Blandine Calais-Germain's "Anatomy of Movement",
which provides a well illustrated and quite detailed account of which
muscles, joints, bones, ligaments, and tendons are involved in various
bodily movements; but it has the disadvantage of being very focused --
it will tell you which muscles are co-opted to move a certain body
part a certain way, but it doesn't move beyond that to tell you what
other muscles and motions are weakened or strengthened synergistically
with a given motion.

I've also been reading Eric N. Franklin's "Dynamic Alignment Through
Imagery", which is *very* holistic, concentrating on how to achieve
various whole-body postural adjustments and movement qualities through
imagery. It has the disadvantage of not being all that technical
about the relationship between movements. (Though I find that the
imagery involved often provides an insight into the
muscle/bone/ligament relationships which the more biotechnical
"Anatomy of Movement" lacks. It has a beautiful illustration of the
skeleton looking down from the point of view of our head, for instance
...)

Both these books are really excellent (and I also really like Frédéric
Delavier's "Strength Training Anatomy"), but none of them has answered
this question:

Often I have been told to do a physical process which is variously
described as "dropping your tailbone", "not sticking your butt out",
"shutting your asshole", or "rotating the sacrum under". What is the
muscular / skelatal / whateveral advantage to this posture? (Or is it
an instruction meant to indirectly correct some *other*, harder to
describe postural deficit?)

Would you more physiologically (or kinesthetically) minded listka mind
taking a shot at clarifying this for me?

Actually, it might be kind of cool to make a list of all the
postural/physical adjustments we've been told to make, and try to
catalog their physiological effects on the body's powertrain. "Bend
your knees" is another favorite, as is "drop your shoulders"... Any
other ones you can think of? And what are their physiological bases?

Pauliina:

My head is kinda fuzzy right now but I'll have a shot at it...

If you look at page 214 in Anatomy of Movement, that is a very nice
drawing of a very typical pattern in standing. For those without the
book, it's a girl standing with the top of her pelvis tilted forward and
her butt sticking out. :) The picture is an illustration of the effect
of the iliacus.
http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/meded/grossanatomy/dissector/mml/ilia.htm

Almost everybody I've worked with has that to some extent. The below is
what I've observed myself - I don't know if someone has actually done
research into this.

That forward tilt of the pelvis means that if there's a horizontal push
on your torso (say someone grabs your wrist and pushes...) the force of
that push will travel along the spine but at the hip joint it can't get
effectively transfered to the legs. So you are more easily out of
balance. Plus it makes it harder for your legs to work efficiently
because there's tension in front which tends to get communicated to your
leg muscles and if they are already working before they need to they
have less potential to work with.

You might be able to feel this: When you sit in a chair, the psoas needs
to be active to support your spine in an upright position, but the
iliacus doesn't. However, because those two run so close to each other,
they tend to want to start working together. The result is that people
tend to tighten the iliacus unnecessarily in sitting, tilting their
pelvis forward almost sort of sitting on top of the upper thigh - and
hollowing the lower back. Or conversely, they want to relax both the
psoas and the iliacus and then find it very difficult to sit straight up
without a back rest because they find themselves slumping backwards.

Now when the same person stands up, they tend to keep that tightness in
the iliacus, and so you see the same tilt of the pelvis forward.
Actually I don't know if sitting is the main reason for this but it's
where it often is recognisable for my students.

The tricky thing is that the effect of this can often be felt as
tightness in the lower back. There can be tightness in the lower back,
too, but if one doesn't look at the _front_ of the hips and pelvis, it's
hard to get anywhere with it.

One exercise that I like is actually going into horse stance (a pic:
http://wongkk.com/images-3/general-5/horse-stance01.jpg), but on the way
very consciously softening the front of the crease between the top front
of the legs and pelvis. The image I have is of my back staying straight
up and oriented back and my kness going forward and away from my back.

kvaak
Pauliina

Yeah..Yeah... I Know..

2007-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

I'm terrible about updating my website/blog. Basically, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not a writer. I like the idea of being a writer. I sometimes come up with something reasonably good, and by a sheer act of will translate it into text, but it isn't something I do as a recreation.

At some level I would like to be one of those people. Tom Myers really impresses me (see http://www.anatomytrains.net). You can tell that he loves language; the texture, imagery and flow of words. I can appreciate the gift, but the encoding of thoughts into artful language isn't something that flows easily for me.

The last few months have been productive. I've been teaching an introductory physiology class at the Pittsburgh School of Pain Management. In a couple of weeks I will start teaching a 10 week introductory neurology class at PSPM. Tanya Chaney planned the syllabus and developed a fantastic PowerPoint presentation for the material. I wish I could post the whole thing on the website, but the material belongs to Tanya.

I've been attending meditation and discourses at The Pittsburgh Buddhist Center. The center recently had its one year anniversary. It opened the same weekend that I moved back to Pittsburgh.

Good Karma.

Learning Methods

2007-03-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

A somewhat lengthy, but quite worthwhile essay on posture, movement, gravity, and awareness:

http://www.learningmethods.com/statlect.htm

Thanks Pauliina

MSG and Brains

2007-03-04T09:58:00.000-08:00

A well meaning relative, who is also a fantastic cook, sent the following to me.
Take a good look at the line in red. This statement is completely false.

The person who wrote this is simply going by wht he has heard and what he believes, and is not trying to deceive or harm anyone.

The recipe is taste great, I've eaten a lot of it. I've also had a lot of physical and neurological issues that may have been exacerbated by consumpton of MSG. I know that I have noticed dramatic improvements in mTBI related issues now that I have made it a point to eliminate as much MSG from my diet as possible. It is nearly impossible to eliminate completely without going strictly Organic/Vegan, but it can be reduced dramatically by careful purchasing and label reading.

Here is the recipe:

Hundreds of my adoring fans have asked me to share my mighty meat (steak/pork chop/hamburger/etc) marinade recipe.

Since I am approaching retirement and want to share good things with the rest of the world, I will let this secret out of the bag. It is very simple and quick to make and guarantees a fantastic flavor for meat you broil on a grill.

Combine and mix together in a shallow dish (glass pie plate, deep plate, platter, etc) the following ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (I use peanut oil, but other cooking oils will do)

1/2 cup paprika (I use sweet paprika that I buy at Sam's)

2 heaping tablespoons of dried or fresh basil (sweet, if possible)

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

2 tablespoons of MSG (Accent) -- This really is a natural ingredient and won't hurt you.

2 tablespoons of Worchestershire Sauce (even the cheap stuff works in this marinade)

2 tablespoons of Dale's Steak Seasoning liquid. (I think this is available in all grocery stores?)

DIRECTIONS:

You can apply this 15 minutes before grilling -- but it is best to marinade the meat several hours before cooking.

Put the meat in the marinade mixture and turn it over several times. Spoon up the "paste" on the bottom of the dish and rub it on the top side of the meat.

Turn the meat several times during the marinade process.

Do not drain the marinade when you start to grill.

CAUTION: The marinade will cause big flame ups for the first two or three minutes of grilling -- you will have to move the meat around until the flaming dies down. But, the final results are worth it.

DO NOT SAVE OR RE-USE MARINADE -- THROW IT AWAY AND MAKE A FRESH BATCH NEXT TIME YOU GRILL. (Unless you enjoy being sick from a food borne illness.)

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Individualize your marinade. Maybe you like more garlic or want to add soy sauce, ginger, etc, etc. Whatever -- try it and develop your own distinct grilling marinade and maybe you'll have hundreds of fans, like I do, begging for your recipe!

Good luck.
It would still be a good recipe without the MSG, and I'm pretty sure that the brand of Steak Seasoning mentioned also contains MSG, and would need to be substituted. It might not get the "rave reviews" without these ingredients, and based on animal studies, the people that ate meats marinated in this recipe would probably be satisfied portions about 30% smaller. In a country that has an amazing obesity problem, I think recipes that satisfy you with smaller portions are probably a very good idea. Here is some info on MSG that you may find useful: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/l-append.html

The above link discusses the way the FDA defines MSG, and undr what conditions it can be called "Natural" and under what conditions it can't. As you can see, it is a word game, it is the same substance whether it is called "natural flavoring" ,"hydrolyzed vegetable protein", "sodium caseinate" or anything else from the long list of psuedonyms.

The following is an excerpt from the article:

"Much of the argument for the safety of MSG is based on this meaningless distinction between food additive monosodium glutamate and other hydrolyzed protein products. The distinction is meaningless in a discussion of adverse reactions to processed free glutamic acid because glutamic acid that has been freed from protein or excreted by bacteria through a manufacturing process causes brain lesions, neuroendocrine disorders, and adverse reactions regardless of the method of processing, regardless of the source of the protein, and regardless of the name of the ingredient that contains it."

The article also discusses the banning of MSG in U.S. manufactured baby foods and the reasons behind it. What i can't figure out s why the same logic hasn't been applied to "adult foods".

Somone else who receive the recipe by Email wrote a response that I think is wonderful.

It also applies to the recent "Indigo" topic.

Here it is:

Dear ******,
You're scaring me here!
I have been pondering over your e-mail on Indigo Children in combination
with conjunction with some research I've been doing on excitotoxins.
Short answer:

1. "Indigo Children" are the response to 20th century environmental
assaults never before experienced in the history of the species.

2. One of these assults is MSG (and other excitotoxins such as
aspartame, NutraSweet, etc.)

Yes, glutamates are natural, but never never NEVER in the concentrations
now put in food.
They're put there because they DO create wonderful taste.
They DO that by over-exciting the braincells -- to death, hence the term
"excitotoxins."
They cross the blood brain barrier AND the placental barrier.
The hypothalamus (which controls appetite, the endocrine
system/hormones, etc.) has no blood-brain barrier at all because its job
is to monitor everything in the blood and respond accordingly.

MSG actively destroys brain neurons, and is now linked by researchers to
thyroid / endocrine problems, obesity, AND to Parkinson's, ALS,
Alzheimers (known in Europe as "the American Disease") and other
neurodegenerative diseases.
It is not a huge leap to the current autism epidemic.
Consider the pattern -- normal baby, normal developmental progress until
around age 2 when there should be an explosion of growth and neural
wiring AND when infants are graduating from baby food up to eating adult
food. And strangely the neural connections don't get made.

MSG was removed (we think) from baby food in about 1970 thanks to the
grim determination of a Dr. Olney, a neuroscientist -- over the screams
of the food industry. They (and the FDA) didn't seem to care that MSG
actively destroys the arcuate nucleus of the infant brain. So Olney went
to Congress.

Yes it is natural, tho it never occurs naturally in the quantities that
are now pumped into our food supply so that Consumers will consume more
and more and more.
The damage it causes is precisely BECAUSE of its "naturalness": the
brain, and the hypothalamus in particular, has zillions of glutamate
receptors. What the hypthalamus does not have is a blood / brain barrier
-- because its job as CEO of the body is to monitor everything in the
blood and respond accordingly.

Yes, the FDA has long said that it's safe -- but it turns out that the
pamphlet they gave out for years was actually written by the Glutamate
Council. It's one of the tragic problems of our system that the
understaffed and underfunded FDA has turned safety testing over to the
companies themselves who are hardly objective -- not with billions of
dollars in potential sales at stake. Safety testing seems to have become
an exercise in: "How can we best fudge the data before we turn in the
glowing $afety report$?"

Of all test animals, human brains are the most sensitive to glutamates
(and children's brains are at least 4x more sensitive than those of
adults).
Monkeys aren't much bothered.
Mice are closest to (tho less sensitive than) humans, therefore the test
animal of choice -- IF you are looking for REAL results.

So . . . for the definitive study for a Generally Recognized as Safe
(GRS) decision, what would you pick for study subjects?

The most-quoted safety study used MONKEYS, fed them huge amounts which
induces VOMITING, then kept them sedated during the course of the trial
with a compound which is known to be the most powerful GLUTAMATE
ANTAGONIST known. Not surprisingly, they didn't find much damage after
the chemical was vomited out and the remaining material safely
neutralized.

The definitive book on the subject is by Dr. Russell L. Blaycock,
neurologist and neurosurgeon. -- someone who actually SEES the damage
done by these compounds. You need not take his word for it: it includes
full references to all the studies so readers can make their own
educated decisions.

Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Excitotoxins-Taste-Russell-L-Blaylock/dp/0929173252/sr=8-1/qid=1172762698/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8905431-1491263?ie=UTF8&s=books

I know what MSG does to me.
What really scares me is what I don't know about what it does or has
done to me -- or what it will do. It's almost impossible to avoid in any
processed food.
I hope you will look at this.
When you do your consulting, when you write your book, when you feed
your grandchildren, you of all people are in a wonderful position to
save so many people so much grief and pain.

Blessings!
***** *********

Something I have never seen discussed extensively amid the concerns
over excitotoxins in the diet (primarily glutamates from MSG and
aspartates from aspartame)is the effect of elevated glutamate/aspartate
levels on TBI, either immediately following an injury or during
recovery.

Fortunately, high plasma levels of these excitotoxins are blocked from
entering the brain by a healthy blood/brain barrier (except at the
hypothalamus, but that's another discussion)

How about when the blood/brain barrier isn't healthy...TBI or stroke?

Would getting into a car accident on the way home from an MSG loaded
Chinese Buffet result in a more severe brain injury?

How about damage to the HPE axis?
More severe if loaded up with nacho cheese tortilla chips and diet
soda?

And what about recovery?
Can an existing injury be exacerbated and recovery slowed by an
excitotoxin loaded diet?

just random thoughts.

From Wikipedia (which is has become an amazingly handy source of quick
info in the last couple of years):

"Excitotoxicity can occur from substances produced within the body
(endogenous excitotoxins) . Glutamate is a prime example of an
excitotoxin in the brain, and it is paradoxically also the major
excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS.[10] During normal
conditions, glutamate concentration can be increased up to 1mM in the
synaptic cleft, which is rapidly decreased in the lapse of
milliseconds. When the glutamate concentration around the synaptic
cleft cannot be decreased or reaches higher levels, the neuron kills
itself by a process called apoptosis.

This pathologic phenomenon can also occur after brain injury. Brain
trauma or stroke can cause ischemia, in which blood flow is reduced to
inadequate levels. Ischemia is followed by accumulation of glutamate
and aspartate in the extracellular fluid, causing cell death, which is
aggravated by lack of oxygen and glucose. The biochemical cascade
resulting from ischemia and involving excitotoxicity is called the
ischemic cascade. Because of the events resulting from ischemia and
glutamate receptor activation, a deep chemical coma may be induced in
patients with brain injury to reduce the metabolic rate of the brain
(its need of oxygen and glucose) and save energy to be used to remove
glutamate actively. (It must be noted that the main aim in induced
comas is to reduce the intracranial pressure, not brain metabolism). "

On a related note:

The symptoms of brain wave slowing are part of a continuum. In the
extreme how are they different from a lowered GCS score other than in
degree?

Can severe apraxia be viewed as a loss of the ability to multi-task
taken to the extreme?
Taken to the point that the client is unable to cordinate the multiple
muscles involved in a complex movement?

Too much coffee on a quiet, snowy, Pittsburgh Sunday,
Wiley

Indigos and Autism

2007-02-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of days, I've been having an email exchange with my parents about the "Indigo child" phenomenon. They apparently saw a film about it, and decided to ask me about it... because I tend to be the one in the family that knows about "all that weird stuff".

Actually, I haven't given it a whole lot of thought. I don't have any children. Have never raised any children either (but I was one once, and I've met a few). I never really felt that my opinion on the matter would have any weight.

I have been 'accused' of being an Indigo, and after thinking about it, I didn't really take it as a compliment.

Here's why:

They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it)

They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that.

Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents "who they are."

They have difficulty with absolute authority without explanation or choice).

They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.

They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and don't require creative thought.

They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).

They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.

They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").

They are not shy in letting you know what they need.

This is one of the most common lists of traits.
To me, it sounds like a child who has been raised by T.V. (hence the "old eyes")and video games. They have the attention span of a gnat. They expect instant gratification.They are poorly socialized and haven't learned to share. They are indulged to the point of truly believing they are the center of the universe, so they haven't learned to cooperate and make the compromises that are part of being in a social "team".

At least those would seem like a reasonable explanation for all the traits on this list.

I'm a big fan of Occam's Razor:

This is often paraphrased as "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest hypothetical entities. (from wikipedia)

I don't think that a 'leap in human evolution' is needed to explain why children being raised in a dramatically different technological, sensory, and social environment from their parents might act a little different than parents did at the same age.

That being said, there is also an electromagnetic environment that may be worth considering in the phenomenon.
Some of the Indigo traits have been compared to Autism Spectrum traits, and it is true that autism rates seem to be rising. A criticism of this has been that the testing is better now, and more traits are recognized....but if this is true, where are all the autistic adults?

As I understand it, autism doesn't tend to clear up spontaneously.

There is a type of Neurofeedback called LENS (Low Energy Neurofeedback) that uses very weak electromagnetic pulses to carry the biofeedback signal back to the subject. Most people respond to a couple of seconds of per session. The situation is different with autistic subjects they may require much more feedback before they show a response...as much as several minutes of feedback signal per session.

See:
http://www.neuro-muscular.com/glossary.htm
for a brief description or,
http://ochslabs.com
for more detailed information about LENS

I want to propose a hypothesis for the increase in autism based on this observation.

The background electromagnetic soup that we live in has increased massively, a thousandfold, in a few short years.
Cellphones and wireless networks are now part of our ecology. The current generation of small children were gestated, and probably conceived, within a few feet of a cellphone, and have been immersed in a sea of wireless networks since birth.

LENS has demonstrated how remarkably sensitive our nervous systems can be to tiny radio frequency signals...the feedback signal that LENS emits is a tiny fraction of the output that is produced by that cellphone in your pocket, but can measurably change brainwave amplitudes with only a couple seconds of exposure.

Could it be that the increase in autism is an attempt by a developing nervous system to adapt to the cacophony of background RF that is now part of our environment?

There is something about an autistic brain that makes it resistant to low level LENS type stimulation, Is it also more resistant to the electromagnetic soup that we live in?

Is it physiological response; an attempt at a functional adaptation?

In that sense it could be considered "evolutionary" but more in a Lamarckian sense than in a Darwinian sense.

If this is the case, then perhaps the Autism-like Indigo traits are a step in evolution, but maybe not exactly what the more mystical of the New Agers are looking for.

Solitons and cognition

2007-02-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

Since the the ice storm given me a chance to catch up on reading, I've been taking a deeper look at a couple of websites.

Minds, Brains & Catalysis:
A theory of cognition grounded in metabolism

http://www.psy.cmu.edu:16080/~davia/mbc/index.html

The Geometry of Anatomy – the Bones of Tensegrity

http://www.intensiondesigns.com/itd-biotensegrity/biotensegrity/papers/geometry_of_anatomy.html

The physical models used to explain intent, motion, anatomy, and perception are evolving at a dizzying speed. But then, what isn't?

We are living at the edge...of something. Of a major shift. This is the first time in history of humanity that there is no real projection of what the world will be like in 50 years.

Our views of time and space are shifting. Distance has lost almost all relevance in commerce, communication, or access to knowledge.

National borders seem to be on the way to becoming anachronisms.

Even language itself is no longer a significant barrier, at least in elecronic communications.

In ways we are becoming amazingly wealthy in terms of access to technology. Yesterday I saw a pocket camera for $2.50, the packaging included a thumb-size AM/FM radio as a free gift if you purchased the $2.50 camera.

Look at this in terms of the cost in labor for an average person.
It is less than a half hour's labor for someone making minimum wage.

25 years ago, if the technology in these items even existed, it probably would have taken someone making much more than minimum wage several days of labor to afford these items, at least.

Yet in this worlld of phenomenal access, wealth and technology, we have more stress than ever. We are aging faster. Our diets are poorer. We are more obese. We can't seem to afford adequate health care. Many can't afford health insurance. We don't have time to take care of ourselves properly.

what is the problem here?

Al Gore owes me a set of snow tires

2007-02-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days have destroyed my faith in Al Gore. I didn't put snow tires on my truck because I believed in Al Gore.

I didn't buy that coastal property in Florida because of Al Gore and Global Warming.

IF AL GORE IS READING THIS, I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF HE WOULD SEND ME A SET OF SNOW TIRES.

On the plus side, I have been able to catch up on my reading. I certainly haven't had any business.

The world outside the window is all sparkly, the bush next to the window is glazed like a doughnut ...that has been gently dusted with powdered sugar...
I REALLY need to make a trip to the grocery store. I didn't stock up for the storm, the world is a sheet of ice....AND MY TRUCK DOESN'T HAVE ANY FREAKIN' SNOW TIRES!

I just got through playing with the new digital camera that Jill got for Christmas. I carried it with me while I walked to the grocery store.

It takes pretty good pictures.
Does anyones have Al Gore's email address?
I'll attach the images to the email that I'll be sending him.

;-)

Tensegrity and back pain

2007-02-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a bit of time on the aikido-L mailing list ( http://www.aikido-l.org ) discussing movement, tensegrity and back pain.

I think the section on back pain is relevent to the blog...actually, a lot of the movement stuff is as well. Much of my knowledge of movement, and my approach to movement therapy is based on aikido and Judo.

Feldenkrais based much of his system on Judo principles, so I guess I'm not in bad company.

Here is what posted to the email list:

>Lately I've been doing a lot of hands-on work with people with back
injuries.
What I've found is that if you treat the vertebral column and associated
myofascia as a tensegrity structure rather than a stack of blocks, people
recover more quickly from injuries, and suffer fewer chronic residual
effects from their injury. They also move more lightly with better posture,
and often gain an inch in height.

There are definite, real world, macro-structure applications.

For example:

Low back pain and bulging discs in the lumbar region.

Traditionally the bulging discs were viewed as the creating the pain due to
nerve entrapment. The traditional treatment approach has been surgical
removal of the disk...with a low enough success rate that "Failed Back
Surgery Syndrome" has become an actual medical diagnosis.

If you view the back as a tensegrity structure rather than a stack of
articulating blocks or a tent pole, the situation changes.
The bulging disk become a *symptom* of inappropriate tensions that have been
distributed across, and compressed the entire structure. The pain itself can
usually be explained and treated in terms of myofascial referral patterns,
also a symptom of inappropriate structural tensions.

If the tensions are correctly balanced, the bodies of the vertebrae will
actually lift off of each other, and minimal pressure will be exerted on the
intervertebral discs.
Range of motion improves, along with improvements in balance and
proprioception. Since the tensions throughout the structure have been
reduced, and the structure has actually lengthened (This is one of the
characteristics of a tensegrity structure, tighten one aspect, the entire
structure constricts, loosen any aspect, and the overall structure expands),
motion is more fluid and resilient.

It seems blatantly obvious when you look at it in retrospect. The vertebral
bodies are composed of light spongy bone, they aren't designed to be load
bearing. The bony projections (spinous and transverse processes, neural
arch) are dense, strong, compact bone. These bony processes are the load
bearing members. They are the rigid components floating within the
tensegrity structure. The intervetebral disks can be viewed as similar to
the bumpers on your car...there if needed, but not really intended for
load-bearing.

A simple shift in paradigms, a huge potential difference in the quality of
life of someone with chronic back issues.

Of course, if you had brought this up twenty years ago, it would have been
considered preposterous...after all,the mechanical models that were in place
at the time adequately described all the motions of the spine. (And from a
certain perspective, they still do) >>

If you aren't familar with the concept of a tensegrity structure, here is a good site:

http://www.anatomytrains.com/explore/tensegrity/explained

This is on Tom Myers' site. Myers is a phenomenal writer and lecturer, as well as a direct student of Ida Rolf, Buckminster Fuller, and Moshe Feldenkrais.

I strongly reccomend that anyone interested in the topics discussed here take a look at his material.

Reply to Cynthia and New Hope

2007-02-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments folks, and sorry about the slow reply. I've been on the road a lot the last couple of days.

Cynthia,

Are you in Pittsburgh?
What kind of practice do you have?

I'm planning on keeping a running commentary of the happenings here, with images...assuming I can develop a reasonable degree of skill web publishing skills. This is the first blog that I've ever set up.

New Hope,

You mention a whiplash injury, could you provide a little more detail?
When did the injury happen? And what was injured?
What was the angle of impact and which way were you facing?
You have mentioned back surgery...what type of surgery has been proposed?
What are your current symptoms and pain patterns?

Let's start with that, let me build a better picture of what is going on with you.

email me if you don't want to discuss this in a public forum.

Triggerpoints@verizon.net

Since I don't know much about you yet, or your condition I'll just make a few general comments about whiplash injuries.

One aspect that tends to be overlooked, after the shift from the "acute injury" stage to the "chronic condition" stage, are the changes that occur in the nervous system as a result of the injury.

The high amplitude, noxious, neural impulses from the injury can have profound central effects.

The pain can cause an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system, keeping your body in a "fight or flight mode".

In "fight or flight" mode (a shift toward Sympathetic nervous system dominance), blood pressure is up, breathing patterns change, peripheral blood vessels constrict, stress hormones such as cortisol are released, digestion slows, sleep becomes lest restful. Your body is stuck in an "emergency response". This can be benefit during an actual crisis...but your body can't function effectively long term in this condition.

During an emergency, your body is tryng to maximize the mobilization of resources...cutting loose energy to burn. It isn't important to be building muscle, healing, or absorbing nutrients while, for example, a tiger is chasing you. What is important is freeing up nutrients to burn as energy.

The other side of this phenomena is the effect of Parasympathetic nervous system dominance.
This is the "rest, digest, and recover" branch of the Autonomic nervous system.

Normally, your body shifts back and forth between a parasympathetic state and a sympathetic state in a slow tide-like flow. Exertion...relaxation......tension...release...contraction....extension.

There is a balanced rhythm, just like in any other healthy physiological process. Just like the the balanced inhale-exhale of breathing, and the sleep wake cycle.

If your body becomes stuck in a state of sympathetic activation, you can't heal properly, you can't rest properly, you can't digest and absorb nutrients properly. This can lead to a wide variety of issues...including depression and exhaustion, as well as exacerbating existing pain issues. It is common for the perception of pain to change from localized pain to widespread, diffuse body pains. Immune reponses can be lowered.

Some people even experience disruption of endocrine functions. As your body attempts to compensate for this altered autonomic state, thyroid function may be inhibited. it isn't uncommon for people to gain a significant amount of weight after a whiplash type injury, even though diet and activity levels may not have changed significantly.

Fortunately, there are manual techniques and exercises that can help restore function in the damaged myofascia and calm the innapropriate nervous impulses.

Here is a good article on the theory behind the techiques:

http://www.neuro-muscular.com/Part2.pdf

In my opinion, however, the most exciting results in the treatment of the chronic effects of whiplash are coming from the field of neurofeedback, and it seems that myofascial bodywork amplifies the effect of the neurofeedback

This article focuses on post traumatic fibromyalgia, but there is a lot in it that applies to whiplash in general:

http://www.fmpartnership.org/Files/Website2005/Learn%20About%20Fibromyalgia/Articles/Neurotherapy%20Treatment%20of%20Fibromyalgia.htm

I hope something here is useful to you.

If you provide me with a few more details, I may be able to provide you with some information that is more specific to your condition.

And if you are in the area, feel free to stop by and visit. There is no charge for a consultation.

Wiley

The Start

2007-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Hello,

This is the first actual post on the PNMT blog. You might notice that the skeleton on the page doesn't have any muscles..or nerves, so you may wonder what it has to do with Neuro-muscular therapy.

Actually, it is just one of my favorite drawings. It is by Vesalius, whose antomical drawings are wonderfully accurate, and much more interesting than most of the dry, academic modern anatomical drawings. It is also appropriate for the mood of starting a new blog.

where do you start with a new blog?

You feel a bit naked..there is no topic and precedent for the discussion.

I feel sorta like the skeleton in the drawing.

Well, let's get started.

The website for PNMT is neuro-muscular.com. Check it out.
Come by my office if you are in Pittsburgh. If you have pain, we can probably make you feel better.

no...seriously.

There are some phenomenal manual techniques out there for pain relief that are well documented scientifically, and are simple to demonstrate and learn, but for some reason, few people in the U.S. utilize them.

Perhaps it is a matter of economics, I mean, if I were a physician who was getting compensated the same for an office visit whether he spent an hour with the patient or 5 minutes, I could understand the temptation to simply write a prescription and move on to the next patient.
You can see an awful lot of patients in a day that way.

If you are performing manual, manipulative techniques, it takes a bit more time, it takes more refined palpation skills. You can't see as many people. It probably isn't as good a business model.

But I've come to the conclusion that the healthcare system in the US is broken. It's not working, we are one of, if not the, unhealthiest, most overweight of all the developed countries. (I guess the "overweight and "developed" part go hand in hand..but that's digressing)

The fact is that we are very unhealthy, poorly nourished, and over medicated. We have the most expensive healthcare in the world and the worst health.

What's the problem?

Life expectancies are going up, but how much "life" is being added to the span?

One thing I've noticed, from a bit of wandering around in "undeveloped and poor" areas of Central America, is that the elderly look different than they do in the US. There is certainly no shortage of them there. Maybe you see a larger percentage of the because they are outside and busy doing stuff. They are more alert, fitter, more active, more coordinated, and amazingly unmedicated compared to the US.

If you don't believe me, go take a look and compare. The elderly in the US look like zombies in comparison.

They are stiff, clumsy, have shuffling gaits, flat expressions, hard inflexible bodies, inflexible minds?

What's wrong?

We have a graying population in the US, and the population isn't aging gracefully.

Why is it that the areas without the "advanced" healthcare that we have in the US look so much better?

Comments?

Opinions?

Wiley