Brain Electrician Training 102

Last week we talked about our emotional and habit neuron links - now for the lighter stuff - our movement patterns! This concept that neurons that fire together wire together is also incredibly prevalent in all of the movements we make. Once initiated, a chain reaction gets set off, allowing us to perform our commonly used movements seemingly automatically. These “motor patterns” represent the firing of neurons which ultimately cause the series of muscle contractions required to perform a certain movement. The more we use that motor/movement pattern, the more automatic and subconscious it becomes - and usually, the smoother it feels! Though present in our everyday movements, there are a couple of arenas that capitalize on motor patterns and that is the rehabilitation world and the sports world. 

In the rehabilitation world, we utilize and leverage our brain’s ability to create movement patterns in order to get a patient back to their regular activities. In fact, sometimes the reason we end up with injuries in the first place is because for whatever reason (be it fatigue, postural strain, or compensation for a sore spot) we’ve developed a poor movement pattern that ends up overloading structures or requiring muscles to do jobs they aren’t really designed to do. Many of these rehab or training programs (that often include the buzz word “functional training”) are designed with the goal of creating better motor patterns. The hope is that when we are out in the real world our brain will select that pathway we practised rather than the dysfunctional pathway we may have had before. For example, adults often bend over by curling their backs, rather than keeping their back straight and using their hips, gluteal muscles, and knees. We often develop this pattern because we spend a lot of our day sitting (maybe even slumped), we don’t often use our full hip range of motion so we are stiff, or we simply don’t have the strength in the muscles on the back side of our body to move properly. For whatever reason, somewhere along the line we got into this bad habit and pretty soon that’s the only way we bend over and eventually, for a lot of people, this results in back pain. I can go over and over the “correct” way to bend and the patient can fully understand what needs to happen, but the problem is when we drop something and bend over without thinking - that poor motor pattern is fired because it’s the path we’ve used the most - regardless of if we “know better”. Rehabilitation/functional training leverages the neurons that fire together wire together rule to create new neural pathways. Once we do them over and over again enough in a controlled environment they then become “automatic”. Once it’s automatic, we have successfully trained the nervous system and created a very strong pathway of neurons that will fire the new and improved motor sequence as soon as the brain says “bend over” - without us even having to think about it anymore! Here’s a little hint on bending over: If you want to see how to bend over properly, watch a small child do it - they haven’t had a chance to develop poor habits..yet!   

In both the rehabilitation and sports world, we have also come to understand that improving how our nerves talk to each other not only creates more efficient movement patterns but can also increase our power and strength. When we first begin a strength training program we become stronger even before the muscle actually gets bigger! In fact, almost all strength gains made in the first few weeks are due solely to improving the function of our nervous system to perform the movements rather than increasing the size of our muscles - that part doesn’t happen until later on. So, what are we doing in those first few weeks? We are training neurons to fire together and then “wire together” to make the perfect sequence of muscle contractions for the movement, and we are also recruiting more of the muscle fibres that we already had by training our nerves to access them. Here’s another fun fact, when we train only one side of the body - we often still see some strength gains on the other side -so it for sure ain’t all about the muscle! 

Throwing a ball with ease, taking that perfect golf swing or effortless running stride, all of those will only come “naturally” once we’ve trained our brain to perform the perfect motor pattern and repeat it over and over again. When we set out to do a sport or skill that we haven’t done in awhile we are often cheered on and comforted by the hope that the old saying is true: “it’s just like riding a bike”. We understand this to mean that the skill will come back to us quickly once we do it a few times. This is leveraging just how strong some of our neural connections and old pathways can be. Sure, it might take a couple tries to sweep off the entrance to the pathway and clear out the cobwebs, but once we can “find” the path and access it again, we get back to our “fine form” in no time! 

We often underestimate the power of old habits and just how strong neurons can link - but just ask anyone who has recently had to change their patterns and break a habit. Emotional, physical, it doesn’t matter! It takes a lot of work to break those links and gets harder the longer we have used that same old pathway. Though it has a slightly different spin, check out this video which I think perfectly highlights just how strong our motor patterns can be - even when we know better. Trust me, it’s worth the watch!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0 

Now, get out there and go dust off that ol’ bike of yours for spring. Something will click and you’ll find that motor pattern and be crusin’ in no time… you smooth operator you ;)