Functional Neurology: for Manual Medicine Practitioners Kindle Edition

This textbook is designed to help manual therapists acquire the basic knowledge they need to integrate neuroscience findings into their treatment strategies. Many neurological symptoms are caused by functional problems that cannot always be clarified by imaging alone. To address these issues, viewing neurological dysfunction as a problem of neural networks is essential. From this perspective, it is necessary to identify the areas that cause various symptoms and to seek ways to restore neural function. In functional neurology, it is extremely important to have a comprehensive functional understanding of the entire nervous system, as it emphasizes not only local neural activity but also the integration of sensory functions in the brain to optimize responses to environmental demands. This book is based on lectures by Frederick R. Carrick, DC, PhD, MS-HPEd, the founder of functional neurology, and explores the field of functional neurology.The author argues that Dr. Carrick's central concept of interhemispheric imbalance emerges due to asymmetry in sensory stimuli (afferent input) or disruptions in the neural networks. Reduced sensory input from areas like the vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, or auditory systems can weaken the activity of specific brain regions, particularly cortical networks, leading to hemispheric dominance or suppression. Therapies are designed to increase targeted stimuli to specific regions or pathways, restoring optimal hemispheric communication and function.In addition to Dr. Carrick's methodology, the author also focuses on intrinsic rhythmic activity. Intrinsic rhythmicity refers to the brain's natural oscillations, such as those involved in breathing, sleeping, and cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. These can influence cranial and spinal fluid flow, impacting neural function and central integration. Nasal breathing is not just a respiratory function but a critical driver of neural oscillations, autonomic regulation, and brain function. It acts as a link between intrinsic physiological rhythms and cortical activity. If one hemisphere has reduced activation due to poor sensory input or altered rhythmicity, this can impair motor, cognitive, and autonomic functions.返信転送リアクションを追加AI返信 Read more