Brain Blog: Neuroplasticity

This word, that makes you try to say it 2-3x, is what drives me as a physical therapist. This word has an undefined potential, we don’t know how far we can take it. So guess what, we are going to push, strive, and thrive on it’s potential. This is my motivation and my approach to your rehabilitation.

Neuroplasticity is defined as:

"the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections after injuries, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI)."

Let me break down that definition a bit.

Nervous system = brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves that run through your brain, spinal cord, and out to your organs, body systems, and muscles.

Intrinsic stimuli = stimulus within the nervous system itself (electrical activity that signals along a nerve and through the brain’s pathways)

Extrinsic stimuli = stimulus to the body’s organs, systems, and muscles that then stimulate the nervous system

Reorganize its structure = literally the connections of nerves in the brain and the brain tissue itself CHANGE.

It changes at time of injury, which is why you may experience a quick change in your body’s capability. It can continue to change with stimuli to rebuild, reshape, and improve function.

Reorganize its functions = other areas of the brain/spinal cord may start performing the functions and increasing its electrical activity to adapt to the injured area of the brain/spinal cord.

Reorganize its connections = nerves branch out and make new connections and new growth of nerves occurs to connect areas of the brain that were previously not connected, or to the injured area to restore function. Technical words for this reorganization of connects are: neuronal regeneration and collateral sprouting.

So what does this mean for you?

This reorganization is a naturally occurring phenomenon. And it can be MAXIMIZED when it is challenged and worked. Full silver platters are rare in this life. A physical therapist pursued a doctoral level education in the brain and body connection to appropriately challenge your system after an injury. This is our EXPERTISE. And creativity and motivation are abound at Move-Meant Physical Therapy and Wellness, PC. We will design and implement challenges to maximize your brain and nervous system recovery, prime your system to re-learn how to move in a meaningful way to restore your function. Your capability is impacted by the severity of your injury, however the unknown maximal recovery using neuroplasticity is UNDEFINED. Let’s define it in your case, not a population statistic or likelihood. Your motivation, work ethic, creativity, matched with mine will be the only way we answer the question of: how much recovery is possible, for me?

Reference: Puderbaugh M, Emmady PD. Neuroplasticity. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557811/