Many people complain that massage feels good at the time but that relief only lasts a day or two. This is because the treatment doesn't get past the buffer system and therefore isn't able to affect the brain or the nervous system effectively. ONR provides a way of using movements to stimulate tissues at the site of injury at the same time as influencing the nervous system and brain.

Brain information buffering is a smart way of filtering out stimuli that aren't useful but when there is an injury some types of treatment don't get past this buffer system. Why? Because there is so much information bombarding the brain about the injury that a bit of extra pressure e.g. massage is often barely noticed by the brain. But why (you might ask) does the brain need to be made aware of the massage or the treatment? Good question. It needs to be aware of it because it's like a relationship between teacher and student (brain being the teacher and the injured area being the student). The student often needs help from the teacher to learn how to heal and to remember all the movements it used to be able to do in the correct sequence (think about the people who still walk with a limp from an injury they had years ago.... these people often have not had treatment that enabled the brain and nervous system to help the injured area recover its proper movements).

So what is the secret?

During normal recovery from injury a person will generally try and perform the movement that has been lost. If a person has a shoulder injury they will slowly try and move their shoulder so that it gains full, pain free, range of motion. Sometimes this form of unaided, naturally occurring recovery can be hindered by altered movement patterns. This is when the body uses the muscles in a different way so that the original motor losses or pain go undetected. Using the shoulder example again, it may be that a person has damaged their supraspinatus muscle (a small muscle of the rotator cuff that helps in the initial stages of lifting the arm out to the side) and as a result experience pain when lifting their arm to the side. The body compensate for this and they can still lift the arm by using momentum generated by their torso so that the supraspinatus is not used as much therefore avoiding pain. Getting this person to do more exercises that involve lifting their arms out to the side would only help to reinforce the faulty movement pattern.

The secret to addressing this problem is in understanding the building blocks of movement, the 3 key sensory-motor abilities, and targeting these in rehabilitation.

The 3 key sensory-motor abilities are as follows:

1. Parametric abilities are the measurable aspects of movement: force, length and velocity.

2. Synergistic abilities are the body's capability for muscles to work in a coordinated and efficient way around a joint.

3. Composite abilities are the broader, whole body coordination involved in moving a single joint, which includes balance and posture. For example the shoulder joint may be able to move fast allowing a person to reach out in front of them to catch a ball (parametric and synergistic abilities), but the thorax and hips may be stiff and flexed (bent forward) which would restrict the person's ability to reach over head and behind them (composite abilities).

In addition to the 3 key sensory-motor abilities Lederman highlights the 5 elements that help facilitate our body's ability to recover. These are the factors in rehabilitation that help get around the buffers of the nervous system and help the body to 'remember' it.

The 5 elements that help facilitate recovery and bypass the brains buffers are:

1. Cognition - we have to think about the rehab, it can't be passive.

2. Being active - we have to actively do the movement we aim to recover.

3. Feedback - In order to correct faulty movement the body needs feedback, (either internal or from a therapist).

4. Repetition - We have to practice the task again and again.

5. Similarity - The rehabilitation should closely resemble the movement that is lost.

Taking this approach to regain a lost movement you need to have a combination of the above 5 elements based on the 3 key sensory motor abilities. Therefore you will have to think about the rehab, do the rehab, get feedback either from an external source (therapist) or from yourself (a mirror), and keep practicing the movement. Over and above the 5 elements the rehab movements should be similar to the movements lost e.g. a normal walking pattern may be lost when someone has compensated with a limp for so long that they no longer walk as they used to and thus rehab needs to involve movements that mimic the building blocks of walking.

If rehab mimics original healthy movements that the patient is trying to relearn it helps to cement the relationship between the individual parts of the movement and aids the movement transfer to other related activities. Lederman defines his type of transfer as 'the ability to take a motor experience from one situation and apply it to another.' Performing rehab with exercises that are dissimilar will make it less likely that the movements being practiced will transfer. Think twice about the rehab you have done in the past. Did your exercises integrate the 5 elements that facilitate recovery? Was the rehab movement similar to the movement you were unable to do?

If you have a joint injury (especially knee, ankle, elbow or shoulder injuries) ask us about ONR and how it may help you.

Ed Paget is an Osteopathic Therapist, writer, presenter, and director of The English Osteopaths, a unique health clinic dedicated to helping people find permanent relief from pain and injury by always searching for the root cause of their problems. Visit his website at http://www.theenglishosteopaths.com to learn more. While there, sign up for the free 8 Hidden Causes of Injury and Illness, a short, yet informative review of the reasons some people struggle to heal. Get in touch with Ed at 403-229-9214 or by email at ed@theenglishosteopaths.com

Источник: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ed_Paget
http://ezinearticles.com/?New-Approach- ... id=4953940