Friday, February 27, 2009

Pain, Posture and Proprioception

Pain is a neurological information to the brain from receivers saying that something is wrong in the body. This information is unpleasant and stimulates the brain to reestablish well being. To reestablish the well being, the brain must recognize the origin of the pain. In posture, the origin of the pain is muscle contracture. However, the brain receives the information saying that those muscles are relaxed because the proprioceptive system that informs the brain about the muscle tonus is disturbed. The solution is not to prescribe analgesic drugs to eliminate the pain. The solution is to reestablish the normal proprioceptive functions. Afterwards, the brain can recognize the origin of the pain and send an order to relax the muscle.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Sciatica

Sciatica is often considered to have its origin at the inter vertebral disc, which compresses the nerve. However, we must consider one other kind of sciatica. This kind of sciatica has its origin in the compression of the sciatic nerve at the level of the pyriform muscle at hip level. In the first kind of sciatica, pain is associated to loss of strength at the homolateral leg but in the second kind of sciatica pain entirely dominates the symptoms.
The treatment is quite different in each of the two kinds of sciatica. In the first case, drugs or even surgery are needed. However, for the second kind we only have to correct the proprioceptive system. Doing so, we obtain a relaxation of the pyriform muscle, the sciatic nerve is no longer compressed and the sciatalgia disappears.

Vertigo and Unbalance

In a situation of vertigo or unbalance, we must verify if there is any problem with the inner ear or with the cerebellum. This is definitely important but it is not all.
There are many cases where both inner ear and cerebellum are in good conditions but vertigo and unbalance persist.
For a better understanding of these situations, we must consider the proprioceptive system dysfunction as a cause of vertigo and unbalance. In this case, the elimination of the proprioceptive dysfunction leads to the elimination of vertigo and unbalance.
Otherwise, we are forced to use drugs for which the target is not the disease but the symptom.
In the standing position, there are hundreds of information coming from the proprioceptive captors that contribute for that body position (neuromuscular spindles, baroreceptors, tendinous receivers, etc.). The proprioceptive system may become dysfunctional and the solution for treating vertigo and unbalance is to reestablish its normal function.

A Bit of Science

Dyslexia is usually seen as a disease. It would be a disease if it had its origin in a specific organic characteristic or in a cromossomic disturbance. Authors refer many origins concerning dyslexia and each one refers a different origin. What we are talking about is very clear. In every pathology, there is often two part. One is the biological condition of each person and the other is the agent which produces the disease or the symptom. In DYSLEXIA, we are looking at the research about the origin of dyslexia as just a way to search for the predisponent factors.
The origin is a PROPRIOCEPTIVE DYSFUNCTION. The factors referred by different authors are factors which can't be changed. However, if we change the proprioceptive system, dyslexic people can become normal readers.
The facts that we have come across with do not allow researchers to withdraw the conclusions they have been referring to until now.
They must recognize they are searching for predisponent factors and not for causal factors.
Our technique can eliminate the causal factors of dyslexia by managing the proprioceptive system.

How the Active Prisms Work - a bit of science

Whenever we look at an object to our left side, the image captured by our retina arrives to our retinal cortex. On the other hand, when we are looking at an object at our right side, the image arrives to the similar place in our brain (the visual cortex). How do we know both objects are not in the same direction in relation to our body ?
Only the proprioceptive input sent by the eye muscles to the brain can help make the difference concerning gaze direction.
Egocentric localization perception is the basis to understand how active prisms work in Dyslexia, Vertigo or Muscular Pain. The mechanism of egocentric localization is integrated in the proprioceptive system. Prisms modify the localization and this produces a new input in the proprioceptive system. We can treat Dyslexia, Vertigo or Muscular Pain by managing the proprioceptive system using the visual entry of this system. This entry is not the classical retinocortical neurological pathway but the retinocolicular neurological pathway. The brain reacts to the new information carried by this pathway and sends a stimulus to the specific eye muscle in order to reestablish the former egocentric localization. This is accomplished by relaxing the muscle tonus.
Consequently, the neuromuscular spindle (muscle sensor) sends a new information to the brain by the trigeminal nerve. This new information enters the proprioceptive system and modifies its way of working.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Be Aware of Multifocal Glasses!

Some people have referred feeling dizziness or suffering from back/neck pain after wearing multifocal lenses. Some also referred having difficulties calculating spatial distances when going up or down the stairs.
Difficulty in going up or down the stairs is often thought to be related with the power of the lenses for near sight. The maximum power added for near sight in a multifocal lens is 3.50. This means that if the user uses the near focus by mistake, he temporarily suffers from a 3.50 diopters' myopia.
A 3.50 diopters' myopia does not cause difficulty in going up or down the stairs without glasses.
The reason for these symptoms must be related to the prismatic action of those lenses.
The solution is not to avoid multifocals but to eliminate the prisms that the factory is incorporating in order to get thinner lenses. Nowadays, this technique is not so useful as before for this prescription because the modern materials associated with the pre-calibration technique allows to obtain thin lenses.

How To Lay Down

The position in bed is very important for a good proprioceptive treatment. Pillows must be eliminated but the body position must be adapted in order to equalize the tonus of the skeletal muscles. This technique makes part of the postural reprogramming according to its author MD Martins da Cunha, H.
In this position, sleep is good, nightmares disappear and people don't wake up tired. The quality of the mattress is also important for a correct body position. It must be slightly smooth on the surface and very hard inside. There are two types of correct body position for sleeping. 

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The Extremadura Teachers Group in Spain has been in contact with us for some years now. Finally, they have obtained the necessary help from us for a new concept in school furniture.
This kind of furniture is designed in order to increase the students' attention level and prevent learning disabilities that are linked to proprioceptive disturbances.