Inside your lovely brain, there is a map of you! In fact there are several maps but today we will look at 2 of them: Motor maps (motor cortex) and Sensory maps (Somatosensory cortex)
In your frontal lobe, lining the back portion of it is your Motor Cortex which is where your motor maps are. Motor maps are neural pathways that map all of your movement, the more complex a movement you learn the more neural density there will be for that movement. For example, a tap dancer will have more complex motor maps of their feet, a pianist will have a more complex motor map of their hands, comparing to the average person anyway. So our work in yoga and the movement world is to utilise this knowledge, to create better maps.
Second map, resting right along side our motor cortex is our sensory map in the parietal lobe. We can use sensory stimulation to give our brain more quality information, we call this “inputs”. If you consider our feet for example, we have evolved to receive such a variety of sensory stimulation through the feet. Walking across pebbles, grass, sand, mud, twigs. But the chances are most people only ever feel their socks and shoes, this lack of information contributes to poor mapping. Poor mapping will result in poor interpretation by the brain and less desirable outcomes, as the brain is always trying to keep us safe, it will slow us down in the form of pain, poor movement and other undesirable outcomes if it doesn’t have a clear picture. We need to help create crystal clear maps to get better movement.
Keys points:
The brains feeding pattern is from the bottom to the top and from the back to the front. Meaning our sensory map will get the fuel first before the motor maps. Because we know this, we can apply sensory stimulation first to get quick results from the sensory stimulation alone but also to help direct fuel to the its neighbour the motor map efficiently.
After sensory stimulation, think of “joint rich areas”- hands, wrists, feet, ankles, thoracic spine ( rib area). These work like magic because these areas have a large real estate of maps within the brain. Lighting up big portions when applying sensory and motor, this has a positive impact on movement.
Maps do not work in isolation, you can practice circling your ankle while your looking at it from standing in a simple a neutral position. That’s easy. However, combine your ankle circles ( a movement you have mastered, I’m sure!) but now try it in a different position. Try Warrior III or plank, or while your circling your wrists . The likelihood is your ankles circles will not be as smooth or possibly stop resembling a circle all together. We can combine movements to create more coherence within our maps.
Rehabbing area’s can make a profound effect on our movement capabilities too. Where we have an injury or any form of trauma to the body your maps will be fuzzy. This includes tattoos, any scar tissue, broken bones and even piercings. We can apply sensory stimulation of all varieties to test out which works best to rehab for you. Try hot/ cold, sharp, dull, light pressure, heavy pressure, vibration on a areas, and see if it helps improve a chosen movement.
We are all unique. Our bodies, our nervous system, our brain and neural network’s, our maps, our lives, our history are all completely different. Not all of the motor or sensory drills will work for you, but take note, experiment and be a detective for yourself to discover what works. It is complex but also really empowering when you find what works!
Shaking while doing a movement can mean your map for that movement is fuzzy and so while your brain works really hard to try and figure it out, the movement pattern is not clear enough to give you a positive output, in the form of a smooth movement. Keep practicing the shaking bits to help your brain create a clear map.
Nice to know….
but not need to know, some extra details for those who want to geek out more:
o Your maps are call Homonculus: which means “little man” see illustration to see why!
o The reason “joint rich areas” are like a magic key is because they have the most mechanoreceptors which are receptors that send the signals to the brain to give more details information.
o Sports specific mapping can be really helpful for those interested in one particular movement. Pick your movement, consider how you can recreate that shape in your body without being under tension or loads, then explore as many joint movements as possible. Test and re-test to see which joint movement gives you the best improved results.
o Movement dosages is concept that appreciates movement is medicine, too much for one person will give undesirable outcomes, where as the next person might need more or “stacked” drills to get the outcome they need.
To learn more, and not just theoretically but more importantly to embody and feel the results of this neuro biomechanics join our monthly Neuro Moves Class.
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