The Smudge

There is a theory in the realm of chronic pain research that describes how the brain becomes smudgy. As pain persists for long durations of time, the area in the brain that is responsible for that painful region starts to become fuzzy. The sensations interpreted by that region are less accurate and before long mis-interpreted entirely. What if that same phenomenon occurs in the body?

The brain and the body are inextricably linked, they are layers of the same system with tight integration. Splitting them up and compartmentalizing them into different things is a fool’s errand. Certainly, there are tissue types that are responsible for unique aspects of life, however one does not survive without the other. Yin and yang. The laws of nature apply to both and the abilities of the body to adapt within those constraints is similar across the variety of tissue types.

Chronic pain is an area of physical therapy that I do work within on a fairly consistent basis. More commonly however, I work with folks who have recently developed symptoms and are looking for relief. Those symptoms are often a product of the smudge. They have glued regions of their body together, such that joints are no longer, that two bones nearly fuse. By fuse I mean taking two pieces of silly putty and smushing them together. They become one, and although they may now be more capable of producing force, they have lost their refined touch. The sensations that are sent to the system revolve around one object versus the original two. The dexterity in that area has been reduced as the smudge evolves.

The brain and the body really behave in very similar ways, they are slightly different aspects of the same system. In order to manage input coming in, sometimes it may be more useful to reduce the information and merge regions together. This provides more resources in some ways, while limiting freedom of movement in other ways. If we can create both scenarios when needed, we now have a more robust system that can adapt as the environment requires.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist