A Clinical Application of Easing Pain via Neuroplasticity

Course overview

Neuroscience and brain imaging advances have shown that decreased movement of body parts leads to functional and structural changes in the brain. These neuronal representations of body parts are dynamically maintained, and changes in shape and size of body maps correlate to increased pain and disability. Neglect, increased fear-avoidance, and decreased use of body parts increases pain and disability, along with sensitization of the nervous system. This can result in extreme sensitivity to physical treatments such as hands-on therapy, exercise, etc. Neuroplasticity also provides hope. Body maps can be retrained within minutes. One strategy used in normalizing cortical maps is graded motor imagery (GMI), including normalizing laterality, motor imagery, mirror therapy, sensory discrimination, sensory integration, and more. The growing evidence shows the GMI program as a whole, or parts of it, can be used clinically to help desensitize a hypersensitive nervous system. This 90-minute session will showcase how brief GMI interventions can be readily applied in real-life clinics to accelerate the recovery of people struggling with pain.