How Do We Learn? Neuroplasticity, Of Course!

One of the biggest myths about physiotherapy is we only work on bodies. It’s true, we do that a lot! We use manual therapy, soft tissue massage, modalities like LASER, ultrasound and dry needling (aka IMS - intramuscular stimulation) - all to help your body heal and perform at its best. However, the most important thing we do is prescribe exercises. Why?

The number one thing we are trying to change is your brain.

Whenever we learn a new skill, be it playing a guitar or performing the perfect squat, we need to start with activating the right muscles in the right sequence to get the right outcome. And that, dear reader, doesn’t happen at the muscle level - that all starts from the brain.

So what is this brain change we speak of? How does it work? More importantly, how do we make it work for us?

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change. This change can be harnessed for good (that guitar chord progression is amazing!) or evil (stop leaning over to pick up that box - squat it out!!).

As a physiotherapist, we harness the power of the brain’s ability to change itself through specific exercises. If I want you to improve the range of motion of your shoulder, I’m going to give you exercises that force your brain to engage a specific muscle and build on top of that. Those silly movements we ask you to do? There’s a method to the madness, we swear!

So what makes for good neuroplastic change? Kleim and Jones wrote THE paper on neuroplasticity back in 2008. This became the guidebook with how we influence neuroplasticity for the forces of good. Here are their ten principles and how we relate this to our exercises:

1. Use It or Lose It - want to still be able to squat in 20 years? Squat now. Your brain is very good at eliminating circuits that aren’t being used. If you want to keep a skill at a certain level, you need to practice it regularly.

2. Use It and Improve It - when you practice a task, your brain becomes more efficient at that specific task. It strengthens the neurons and their synapses, prunes off the inefficient pathways and creates a faster circuit.

3. Specificity - if the goal is to improve your golf swing, working on your tennis form isn’t the best way to do it. Sure, some of the muscles used are the same and you’ll see a cross training effect. But to get the best results for your golf game, we need to focus on your golf swing - break down those movements, improve them and put it all back together.

4. Repetition Matters - how many times does an baby fall before they master the art of walking? Almost 14,000 times! (Thanks, Dr. Lara Boyd, for that nugget - I’ve been keeping that number in my head for 10 years!) Keep this is mind if you’re getting frustrated - “brains are stubborn, but so am I”.

5. Intensity Matters - when you’re working out or practicing a new skill, work hard and make it count. Sweat! Fail! Make it hard! The more you push it - either physically or mentally - the faster you’ll see change.

6. Time Matters - we know we get faster neuroplastic change if we start rehabilitation shortly after an injury. The sooner we start, the better.

7. Salience Matters - you need to care about what you’re doing to get change! You know that adage, “You can’t make a person change”? It’s true for the brain, too! If the person doesn’t care, they will not see neuroplastic change. This is why we ask you what you love to do - we need to make sure the exercises we are prescribing relate to something that matters to you and helps you get to your end goal. Otherwise, what’s the point?

8. Age Matters - younger brains are better at neuroplastic change. We used to think younger brains were the ONLY brains that could change, but research has blown that out of the water. Older brains change, too - here is no age limit to neuroplasticity!

9. Transference - this is the cross training effect. Let’s go back to the golf/tennis example. Both games demand good shoulder control, a strong core and good hand/eye coordination. If we focus only on your golf game, your tennis game will improve a bit as well.

10. Interference - I’ll use a personal example with this one. I have spent so much time playing ultimate frisbee that I cannot play tennis without flicking the tennis racket. I can’t do it! My wrist just flicks every time I hit the ball. The neuroplastic change I have developed to throw a frisbee has interfered with my ability to hit a tennis ball properly. I could put in the effort to induce enough neuroplastic change and separate these circuits if I wanted to, but it’s not salient for me (see what I did there?).

Want to have more neuroplasticity in your life? There are two things you can do to make your brain more efficient at neuroplasticity: aerobic and mental exercise. Both have shown to increase the brain’s ability to adapt and change. All the more reason to get out for that bike ride and rock that crossword puzzle!

As always, if you’d like to see one of our physiotherapists, give us a call at (778) 630-8800, email us at clinic@ladnervillagephysio.com or book online.

Happy learning!