Eye movement and ADHD

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Eye movement is quite an important component of Posturology. It is the reflection of a neurological reality where it is that both eyes move as one unit to focus on a given target.

In the context of Posturology, we study eye movement and we associate the findings with the position of the head, at rest. When eye movement is weak, head position on the shoulders is often altered.

Since this eye tracking business originates in the brain, it is possible that it could be studied to diagnose cerebral problems.

As far as autism is concerned, Jennifer Wagner, a researcher at the Boston General Hospital, studies eye movement in babies to discern which ones are at risk of developing autism. Preliminary results suggest that, at around 9 months of age, for the child at risk, the baby’s pupil dilates more when looking at emotional faces, suggesting that these babies are more so stimulated by emotional content.

The study of ocular movement could allow us to distinguish between ADHD and fetal alcoholism syndrome, for example. Lauren Itti, of the University of South California, stipulates that children affected by fetal alcoholism syndrome observe the orientation of objects and contours differently.

Itti indicates that ocular movement can also be useful in the diagnostic of schizophrenia. She finds that schizophrenics have a difficult time pursuing an object.

On May 21, 2016, in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers have indicated that, via ocular movement tests, we were able to differentiate between schizophrenics and healthy individuals in 98% of the cases.

This all being said, in the context of Posturology, one can wonder how far it goes when we get eyes to coordinate and that we favor better neurological organization!

The brain and the heart

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Instinctively, we can figure that the brain and the heart are linked for many reasons.

We recently found out that subjects suffering from atrial fibrillation would potentially have a smaller brain, more specifically at the level of the frontal lobe.

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac pathology that belongs to the family of arrhythmias. An arrhythmia is an abnormal cardiac frequency. We consider that 60-80 beats per minute is normal.

When the heart does not beat, as it should, it cannot pump blood throughout the body efficiently. All of the organs then can suffer.
We know that the frontal lobe is the one that differentiates the most human beings from other species. We also know that the frontal lobe is the one that initiates the postural response and that it commands movement. We know that the development of the frontal cortex, in terms of volume and connections between nerve cells, is the resultant of movement experiences between 0-6 years old.

In Posturology, we optimize the response of the frontal lobe by improving sensory information (by aligning the body and by offering it a balanced stance).

Furthermore, we make the individual move as to build these neurological networks, which are at the foundation of the frontal lobe.

So the question is: if Posturology is good for your joints and muscles, is it possible that it could be good for your heart?

How many ways can you say: pain?

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It would be easy to think that, if we experience pain, it is because a tissue is suffering from a lesion. We can think of an injury, weak or tight muscles.

We now know that it’s not that simple, especially when pain becomes chronic. We speak of chronic pain when it’s been ongoing for more than 3-6 months.

If injuries hurt, it’s because they activate nociceptors. These are the receptors that respond to pain or excessive temperatures.

Recent studies allow us to understand that it’s possible to have pain while there is actually nothing wrong happening with the physical body.

Here are some examples that make you go hmmm:

– Researchers that have analyzed MRI’s of the spinal column of asymptomatic patients found that 80% of them had a disc protrusion or a hernia.
– Researchers have analyzed MRI’s of subjects that were asymptomatic and, in 34% of the cases, they presented with one or more than one tear of the rotator cuff muscles. When a population of individuals 60 years old and more were studied, this number was 60%.
– In the context of subjects presenting with arthrosis of the knee, it was found that 76% of them had lesions at the level of the menisci. They were asymptomatic.

Taking these facts into consideration, how is it that we are told that, to experience pain, something has to be broken?

Professor Lorimer Moseley, teacher of neurosciences and responsible for the department of physiotherapy at the University of South Australia, stipulates that pain is the sum of the environmental context. If it’s true that the pain signal is activated when we get hurt, it’s also true that our environment is a component of our perception of pain.

Professor Dr. Finn Bojen-Moller has even stated that it was fundamental that pain be felt before tissue is actually hurt. He actually sees pain as an alarm signal whose purpose is to maintain a certain level of integrity of the tissues of the organism.

The perspective illustrated is the perspective of practitioners that base their work exclusively on what is seemingly published in the literature. I don’t think that they are wrong. But I am not convinced they are absolutely right either.

What these professionals are saying is that the body can adapt to stress. It would be for that reason that there is no point in trying to reduce stress on the body by aligning it since it has a capacity to buffer it. Only thing is: adaptation does have its limits. Here is a recent study that states that the link between structural damage and pain: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26359154.

With this in mind, we dispose of the technology and exercises to align the bony pieces of an individual without them having to think about it 24/7. It can be an interesting option to reduce constraints on joints, decrease muscle stiffness and allow for optimal performance.

 

MRI Findings of Disc Degeneration are More Prevalent in Adults with Low Back Pain than in Asymptomatic Controls: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analy… – PubMed – NCBI

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2015 Dec;36(12):2394-9. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A4498. Epub 2015 Sep 10. Meta-Analysis; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Review

Exercise and stress

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It probably isn’t the first time that you hear that exercise can reduce stress, right?

Peter Trick, a neuroscientist, wanted to find an anatomical connection in the body that could explain this phenomenon. He, indeed, found a very clear connection between certain parts of the brain that are responsible for physical activity and parts of the brain and parts of the emotional system that manage stress.

We know that the adrenal glands, situated above the kidneys, are responsible for the production of adrenalin when one of three situations arises:
– To fight;
– To flee;
– To freeze.

We used to believe that parts of the brain responsible for managing abstract thoughts were responsible for managing stress. We know now that it’s a little bit more complicated than that.

Trick has demonstrated that the motor cortex, which controls movement, has a direct effect on the adrenal glands. The area of the brain managing our abdominal muscles has a specific effect on that reality.

So then, if yoga and Pilates can help you in managing stress, imagine to what extent this could be more so the case if you are aligned. This is where posturology comes into play.

We always win when we calibrate posture.

Read… to live!

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A fascinating study from Yale University could motivate you to read more!

3635 subjects of 50 years or older were studied over a period of 12 years.

We classified these subjects in 3 categories:

  • Those that do not read at all
  • Those that read 3.5 hours and less per week
  • Those who read 3.5 hours and more per week.

The results are mind blowing!

Individuals that read live 2 years more than individuals that do not read.

Individuals that read more than 3.5 hours per week see the likelihood of actually dying reduced by 23% versus the ones that do not read.

The individuals that read up to 3.5 hours per week have 17% less chances of dying as compared to the ones that do not read.

How so, do you ask?

We know that reading increases connectivity between different areas of the brain and we also know that reading increases empathy.

What the study does not stipulate is whether or not the subjects that were studied possessed good eye movement.

It would be interesting to calibrate posture of the individuals studied, which is known to improve eye eye coordination, amongst other factors.

We know that, to coordinate eyes, whether it is for pursuits or saccades (both are needed for reading), optimal connectivity between the brain hemispheres is great.

That is one of the objectives with posturology!

Psycho

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What is it about an individual that does not respect society’s rules? Researchers from Radboud University asked themselves that very question.

To seek reward and to lack self-inhibition, that pretty much sums up the recipe to commit an offense.

We recognize that these are characteristics of criminals. As well, to be antisocial and impulsive does not help. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for self-management. For example, when it comes to impulsivity, it is the orbital prefrontal cortex’s job to manage it, more specifically.

The cerebellum activates the prefrontal cortex. The cerebellum feeds on input from the receptors found in muscles, the muscle spindles.

It is muscle balance that activates the cerebellum. How interesting is it that muscle balance can be involved in… balance…

Researchers here studied 14 psychopaths and 20 non-criminals. For the same tasks, the reward center was more activated in psychopaths.

As well, it was recognized that when there was a good connection between the reward center and the middle part of the prosencephalon (the anterior part of the brain – hemispheres, thalamus and hypothalamus), control of self was easier.

When one considers that, in the context of Posturology, the goal is to create connections between the two hemispheres, especially the anterior part when it is a matter of performing eye exercises, it could be a tool that is for more than structural balance!

The good and the not so good

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If certain social situations are easily identifiable as good or not, some are less obvious. For example, if a comment is made with cynicism, it can be hard to interpret the nature of the comment. As well, the tone of voice can change the intention of the words that are pronounced.

Recently (2016), researchers found tow areas of the brain responsible for the identification or what’s good and what’s not so good, when the situation is ambiguous.

The inferior parietal lobule (a part of the parietal lobe) has been identified for the identification of negative situations while the superior sulcus of the temporal lobe has been identified for recognition of positive events.

As well, we recognize that these two areas of the brain speak to each other in order to coordinate the final response to an event.

Upon realizing that the parietal lobe is, amongst other things, the area for integration of incoming stimuli (skin, muscles), is it possible that an imbalance in how feet tough the ground, for example, would be associated with a deficit in how this area works as a whole?

And if such was the case, this could mean that our foot stance, our posture, affects our capacity to judge situations in our everyday lives…

The neck and its curves

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There exists a controversy as to whether or not the health of an individual is affected by their mechanics. Some say that, based on many studies, there are no links between postural imbalances and physical pain.

That being said, a recent study (2016) tends to show just the opposite. We state in that study that a loss of curvature of the neck is indeed associated with negative consequences.

We tested if the strength of the muscles was reduced when there was a reduction in te curvature.

Out of the 63 subjects that were studied, 32 of them had a loss of cervical lordosis. We then tested maximal isometric force in flexion and in extension. To add to it, the ratio of strength between the flexors and the extensors was studied.

What was found is that individuals that had loss some cervical lordosis were weaker at the level of the extensors and flexors.

The extensors were even more affected than the flexors. When one considers that the extensors are used to resist the pull of gravity, it might be time to consider that posturology is essential for optimal mechanics, at the very least.

The brain and exercise

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We all know it: exercise is good for us… and it’s good for our brain! What recent studies have shown is that specific forms of exercises are better for specific parts of the brain.

Physical health is not only good for the brain; it’s also been proven that it’s good for reducing the effects of such illness as dementia, Parkinson’s and depression.

To be more precise, we have studied high intensity intervals, aerobic activity, muscular conditioning, and yoga as well as sports sequences.
It was 15 years ago that, for the first time, we concluded that exercise affected the brain. Mice, while running, were forming new neurons in the hippocampus, which lead to an improvement in memory.

We then wanted to know if the type of exercise selected for a specific population had different effects. We compared muscular conditioning and fast walking. After 6 months, both groups showed better spatial memory.

More specifically, the group that was involved in muscular conditioning saw its executive functions improve significantly. These subjects had also seen gains in associative memory.

Those involved in fast walking saw results in verbal memory.

Only stretching as an isolated activity showed not improvement in any of the cognitive measures.

Learning sports sequences develops attention gradually over a longer period of time.

What’s also been found is that children that are healthy show both hippocampus and basal ganglia of greater size. When one considers that basal ganglia allow us to turn thoughts into things, it’s a very cool side effect of being fit!

What needs to be added to all of this is that, if in the context of performing these activities, the body is aligned and stable; it is better at both proprioception and exteroception.

Proprioception is being to feel its own body whereas exteroception is being able to feel the environment around us. Posturology improves both simultaneously, which allows for maximal brain stimulation!

Physical activity and learning

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A recent study has shown that, to improve the memory of what we have learned, it is best to do physical activity… 4 hours later!
The results of the study show that if we plan our schedule accordingly, we can maximize learning.

Precisely, we have seen that it is associative memory that improves. As well, exercising four hours after having studied favors the functioning of the hippocampus, responsible for short-term memory. We can add to this that the hippocampus also helps us with orientating ourselves in space. It’s convenient when you don’t want to be late for an appointment, for example! The hippocampus also allows us not to forgive our wallet or our keys, for example.

If it’s true that the exact mechanism of how exercising 4 hours after studying helps us with memory, what is known is that physical activity promote the release of specific neurotransmitters, namely dopamine and norepinephrine. These two substances can improve memory consolidation.

One can think that if the body is aligned and stable, the effects of exercising to promote better memory can only be greater. When one considers that posturology activates areas of the brain responsible for both movement and memory, adding posturology to any regimen can only lead to a win-win!