Memory

Memory is a strange thing that nobody completely understands. We have some ideas about what structures in the brain store information, however the long-term location and eventual retrieval is still an enigma. One of the more interesting ways to consider it, is to imagine the brain being an elastic structure that is imprintable. It may be that it is like clay before it sets, being entirely malleable and able to recreate events based off of that imprint.

Stretch Armstrong is one of my favorite examples to use when it comes to how we move. He is obviously stretchy, yet he regains his initial shape once tension is removed. You can poke him, make an imprint and that depression maintains so long as the pressure remains, yet he returns to himself once it is gone. Our tissues actually behave quite similarly, and over time those little dimples become a part of the structure itself.

Tissues, regardless of type, are all similar in their ability to store information. Forces direct their shape and provide a structure that allows us to move within the world. They store this information via repeated exposure to those forces. Bone spurs are a great example of forces being applied to the same region of bone over and over again. The body responds by increasing bone mass in that location to aid in dealing with those forces.

Your body remembers events by altering it’s shape over time. The memories are evident in the structure. If I take a measure of somebody’s mobility, to some extent their movement strategies can be identified because the memory of those strategies is present within the system. When they can no longer be altered folks tend to sense pain, and re-establishing the capability to be impressionable tends to diminish those symptoms.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist