How Neuroplasticity Helps Your Brain Recover
Neuroplasticity is the amazing ability of the brain to form new connections and build new pathways between neurons. It allows the brain to “rewire” itself to learn new skills or recover from trauma like a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
Imagine you are driving and come upon some road construction that has blocked your path. You take a detour around the construction zone. Even though you took a different path, you still ended up where you needed to go. This is what neuroplasticity allows for after brain trauma. If brain tissue has been damaged, new pathways can be built to work around this damaged area and use healthy brain areas to take over. This means that even if you experience changes in your ability to move or speak after brain trauma, your brain has an innate capability to recover.
Kleim and Jones* outlined ten important principles of neuroplasticity that are important for your healthcare team to consider during your recovery process.
"Use It or Lose It" "Neural circuits not actively engaged in task performance for an extended period of time begin to degrade." If you do not perform or practice a specific skill, the brain connections that drive that skill will weaken. Did you play an instrument as a child or love to sing certain playground songs? Do you think you could play with the same skill or recite all of the words perfectly without practice now? Your therapist MUST develop a program that drives use of the skills that are important to you.
"Use It and Improve It" "Training that drives a specific brain function can lead to enhancement of that function." The more we practice skills like balance and walking, the stronger these skills become! If you don’t practice you won’t improve.
"Specificity" "The nature of the training experience dictates the nature of the plasticity." You must practice the skills you want to improve! While general strengthening or balance exercises are good and important for your overall wellbeing, if you want to improve your walking you must practice walking. If you want to improve your ability to take care of your garden you must practice the movements required to garden. At Hope First, we bring our specialized therapy to you so that you can work on the things that mean most to you in your real-life environment. There is nothing more specific than that!
"Repetition Matters" "Induction of plasticity requires sufficient repetition." Your brain needs thousands of repetitions to make lasting changes when learning new skills or recovering skills lost after injury. If your therapist does not push you to work on your recovery on your own outside of therapy, you will not get the benefit of a truly high repetition recovery program.
"Intensity Matters" "Induction of plasticity requires sufficient intensity." Just like repetition, how hard you are working also drives your brain’s ability to change. If you have never broken a sweat or felt tired in your PT session, you are not working hard enough!
"Time Matters" "Different forms of plasticity occur at different times during recovery." Many studies show the optimal time for brain recovery is within the first 6 to 12 months after brain injury or stroke and it is important to receive high quality rehabilitation early on in your recovery process. Seek out a specialized therapist with years of expertise treating your diagnosis. Dr. Mollie is board certified by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialities in neurologic physical therapy. She has spent her entire career working with people with neurologic conditions! Because of this, she knows that while early rehab is extremely important, you can absolutely continue to make progress even years after your injury. Do not let anyone tell you you no longer have potential for progress!
"Salience Matters" "The training experience must be sufficiently salient to induce plasticity." Working on what matters to you helps your brain recover. Stacking cones on top of each other or standing on a balance machine probably doesn’t top your list of favorite activities. Working on things you care about like being able to prepare meals in your kitchen, or work in your garden, or get down on the floor with your grandchildren will help drive lasting changes in your brain.
"Age Matters" "Training-induce plasticity occurs more readily in younger brains." We know that the younger you are, the more plastic or changeable your brain is. But again, Dr. Mollie has seen amazing progress in her patients who are in their 80s and 90s! Do not let your age stop you from seeking out expert care that is focused on neurological recovery.
"Transference or Generalization" "Plasticity in response to one training experience can enhance acquisition of similar behaviors." In the training process, the therapist needs to have an eye toward how a particular skill or activity can be generalized or transferred to real world activities, such as increased independence in the home environment.
"Interference" "Plasticity in response to one training experience can impede acquisition of similar behaviors." When individuals begin their neurologic rehabilitation, their brains have sometimes developed compensatory behaviors for areas of difficulty. Having already learned a different way of moving (but which may not be the most optimal way), there may need to be some initial focus on "unlearning" some of these compensations to recover the most normal functioning possible.
*Kleim, JA, Jones, TA. (2008). Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: Implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, S225-S239.
Are you ready to get started with a rehabilitation program grounded in neuroscience and made specifically for you? Call 402-809-5986 to learn more.