The confluence of concepts that were accepted and genuflect toward were these. Pain is perceived by the brain, signals from the peripheral nervous system are given pain status by the brain – before that they are just signals. The brain screens out 90% of all signaling from the peripheral nerves. Sensations from the periphery can be inhibited or up regulated by the nervous system at the nerve root or in nine separate sections of the brain. If a signal from the periphery can be up-regulated so can it down regulated. The regions of the brain involved in this process are; posterior cingulate, amygdala, insula, supplementary motor, prefrontal, anterior cingulata, somatosensory and posterior parietal. I will go into the specific roles of these sections of the brain in my next post.
Each of these regions governs differing behaviour and thought processes – if we increase those behaviours and thoughts – those apart from pain – we can down regulate pain.
In neuroplasticity, as in somatoplasticity, we know three things. Repetition builds super pathways (practice makes perfect). Change is unbelievably rapid if it is emotionally embraced – imagine how felt about a partner just before they betrayed you, and then just after you caught them betraying you – so sudden and so complete? Yes. Thirdly and I would propose most importantly, although there are a 100 billion neurological connections in our brains that number is a set and full, so when a part of our brain starts to think something new – it has to discards another possible connection. If you factor these things together you stumble upon the chance of sudden transformation. Lightening transformations.
Think about it – what we think about we think about more, we can change what we think/believe in seconds and every new thought makes some other thought redundant. Such a powerful force – for positive or negative outcomes.
These are the realisations inherent in this year’s national conference. That is the confluence of study over the last 60 years. I can never recollect a time when our science has so clearly and explicitly stated that ‘with our thoughts we make the world’. Nor has the effect of our determination to be positive or negative been so clearly marked and generally accepted.
Laurence Axtens - Osteopath 