Brain and Body Rehabilitation

Multitasking is bad. Dual tasking can be challenging, dangerous, or therapeutic. Right? Multi-tasking (MT) is entirely different than DT. We do know this to be true. By definition (McIsaac, Plummer 2015) DT requires simultaneous operation of two discrete tasks. It APPEARS as though most people MT by task-switching. Task-switching across 3 or more tasks simply […]

As I alluded in Part II of the Functional Reserve series, it is now time to address endurance. Endurance comes in two commonly-recognized forms: muscular endurance and cardiopulmonary endurance. We see these most commonly expressed through endurance events (marathon, triathlon) and using associated muscular (repetitions to fatigue at a given resistance) or aerobic performance measurements […]

As noted, August is my functional reserve month. Take time this month to give yourself an extra dose in fitness of all forms. In Part I of this concept, I wrote about cognition, with 4 aspects expressed in more easily understandable language, being: hold, recall, process, and generate. Be mindful of the subtle message that […]

No, this is not a soliloquy on the timing of the stock market. This is a call for comprehensive inventory-of and programming-for your wellness. Many people are thinking about their “steps per day” as this can be convenient to track, compare, and gamify. Some are becoming more aware of the need for strength training as […]

In health, wellness, and in rehabilitation, we must learn to “control the controllables”. While this may seem like a play-on-words or retooling of a serenity prayer (accept what we cannot change; courage to change what can be changed; wisdom to know the difference), it should be accepted more literally and adopted more uniformly. This means […]

In a world where intensity is king, and rest is a sin, there is no “middle path”. Can we begin to make one? Can we steal the word “Euthymia” from mental health and give it a place in daily life? Can we begin to make it not only acceptable, but applauded – to breathe? Let’s […]

Where there is no demand, there is no supply. The nervous system will not engage neuroplasticity unless the learner is compelled by a stimulus that reveals what is possible, yet is not currently possessed. Errors are not only permissible, that they are an essential ingredient in the impetus for change. How do we get to […]

In 2017, I coined the term, “The Invisible Conditions”, refering to those conditions that are challenging-to or impossible to (either) image with today’s technology or to see an individual has (hard signs). These include, but are not limited to: chronic pain, Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD), Persistent Post Concussion Syndrome (PPCS), Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome […]

The science of dual task (DT) has been a passion of mine since 1992. Thirty years later, I am just as excited about the improvements that we are making, and the contributions I have left to submit. Over the past 8 months, I have come to conclude that we do not utilize a comprehensive palate […]

While we have known for decades that movement is an interaction of person-task-environment (oversimplified), we still call the control of movement, “motor control”. Why? Many motors actually move in a very predictable pattern without much variability at all. That is neither representative-of or an admirable quality for the human movement system. I will not be […]