Understanding the link from brain to spine
Your spine is a series of segments that is controlled by a plethora of muscles enabling movement in every direction. Although we can voluntarily move our spines in a general manner, the individual movement of each of these spinal bones is impossible to control voluntarily. Think about whether or not you can specifically move your 5th neck vertebrae…
The stability of the spine is essential for allowing us to use our limbs for functions of daily living. For example, think about reaching for an item across a table. As you reach towards the object your attention is on the object you reach for yet the spine must stabilize you so that you can reach outside your centre of gravity. The stabilizing of the spine therefore is a relatively involuntary reflex of your movement towards the object. The involuntary stabilization of the spine is controlled by several parts of the brain including:
- eyes
- brainstem
- inner ear (vestibular)
- cerebellum (coordination part of the brain)
Dysfunctions in any of the above parts of the brain can therefore result in a decreased stability of the spine.
To train the stability of the spine we must train the spine in a reflexive way. This is the beauty of functional training as opposed to doing sit ups. The functional movement forces the spine to reflexively stabilize. At MWE we help improve the reflexive stability of the spine by giving the brain and the spine drills in cooperation towards a pain free spinal motion.