How Neuroplasticity Helps Heal Brain Injury

Neuro: the nerve cells present in our nervous system and brain.

Plastic: the changeable and malleable nature of the brain.

Many people don’t like change. But the truth is that it’s an essential and necessary part of life. Even so, not long ago, scientists believed the human brain to be ‘hardwired’ and unable to change.

Today, however, scientists recognize the brain’s amazing ability to adapt to any and all of life’s changes, from learning new skills to repairing brain injuries and trauma. The science of neuroplasticity is based on this dynamic ability of the brain to change.

How Does Neuroplasticity Work?

The human brain is comprised of billions of neurons that connect to one another, creating neural pathways or ‘wires’ that convey information.

Neural pathways can be forged and strengthened; conversely, they can be weakened or even severed.

For instance, when we learn a new skill, we practise it over and over again until it becomes second nature, or until the new pathway is strengthened. That’s why we press the brakes on our car at a red light without even thinking about it.

When neural pathways are no longer needed, they become ‘pruned’. Have you ever had to stop yourself from taking the route to your old work when starting a new job? If so, your old neural pathways were trying to take over!

Neuroplasticity is unique during the different stages of life:

• In infancy and childhood, the immature brain will organize itself
• In adulthood, neural paths grow with focused learning and memorization or get lost through lack of use
• When the brain is injured it compensates for lost function or maximizes remaining function

Use it or lose it (The Brain as a neuroplastic muscle)

The brain changes according to how we use it – or don’t. Usually applied to our muscles, ‘use it or lose it’ takes on new meaning when referring to the brain. That’s because the neurons in our brain must have a purpose to survive.

If they are not receiving or transmitting information, they become damaged and die through a process called apoptosis. This is essentially the way habits are formed or broken.

In his book “The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science”, Dr Norman Doidge outlines the paradox of change in the brain. The plasticity that allows us to change is the same mechanism that may keep us stuck in a bad habit.

If we keep repeating the same habit, it may appear as if nothing has changed. But, in fact, the more we repeat it, the stronger the habit’s corresponding pathway grows. However, the same principle applies when we learn a healthy new skill or habit. The more we practise it, the more ingrained it becomes.

How Neuroplasticity Helps Heal Brain Injuuries

Neuroplasticity provides some hope for what many people considered in the past to be an incurable brain injury. In his book, Dr Doidge demonstrates examples of functional shifts in injured brains, where the brain compensated for damage by reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons.

To reconnect, the neurons were stimulated through focused activity. Doidge contends that when the brain is damaged, it’s possible to rewire its circuits by inciting different parts of the brain to step up to bat.

In a way, it’s like physiotherapy, which activates muscle and ligament connections that would otherwise be immobile due to injury. Except stimulating your brain’s neurons doesn’t hurt as much!

If you or someone you know has suffered a brain injury in a motor vehicle accident or in the workplace, call HealthMax Physiotherapy at 416-431-4000 or Contact Us. Your initial consultation is always free of charge.