Category: pain

pain, performance, Uncategorized

Survival vs Performance Mode

Neuro Training Performance

Many people can relate to this concept, especially for people who had a concussion in their life and can’t seem to find a way to get ahead and find improvements in their life.

What is Survival mode?

Think of being in survival mode, as a way of how the brain and body feels when you can’t seem to catch up in life. That there are so many barriers in your life that seems overwhelming and thus making it very difficult and challenging for one to overcome them and find success. It is a feeling where your goals are so far down the road and you either will not risk expending the energy in order to attempt to achieve them or you make the attempt towards it but experience some minor bumps/falls, which causes you to go back to the beginning again. Basically experiencing a downward spiral or cycle for the worse. A 1 step forward – 2 steps back feeling towards your goals.

I have mentioned in a previous blog post explaining that your brain’s #1 job is making sure that you are alive and that your brain is a predictable organ. It is always analyzing how much brain fuel it has for the day and thus will determine how well you can do your objectives/activities throughout the day. If your brain analyzes that your fuel source is very low at any part of the day, then it will bring on any output such as “pain/fatigue/nauseous/dizzy/depression/anxious nociception signal” etc. to the body as a way to say: “I understand that you want to go for a walk/work/socialize etc. but I don’t have the brain fuel capacity/energy to do that activity so as a way for you to not do that activity, I will give you a “Pain signal” or any other symptom listed above in order to have you stop and make a change.

These are the characteristics and behaviour that a typical person being in “Survival Mode” feels like. The brain feels unsafe and would deliver communication signals to the body aka pain or any other symptom described above in order to keep you doing the same routine because it feels more safe and doesn’t need to expend much energy/brain fuel.

Some examples of what it feels to be in survival mode:

Frequently getting injured or re-injuring the same area

Feeling depressed.

Chronic Anxiety, sad, emotionally unstable, Frequently dizzy or nauseous.

Always feeling distracted, disorganized, makes poor decisions

Uncoordinated, poor balance, poor posture.

What is it like to be in Performance Mode?

This is the state of being where everything and anything you are doing is flowing well for you. You are in this state because your brain is analyzing that you have optimal brain fuel/energy, your brain is able to process all the signals that it is receiving such as proprioception, vestibular & visual signals really well. It is able to create better outcomes and you get to achieve your goals faster because there are very few times where you take steps back towards your goals, you are always aligning yourself towards your target in achieving your goals.

The examples of being in Performance Mode is literally the opposite of all the symptoms of being in Survival mode. So you will feel more opportunistic, a risk taker, up to the challenge, feeling more courageous and able to be in a flow state more often.

The great news about about all of this, is that through neuroplasticity, where the brain is able to adapt and change over time, is that YOU are able to change/rewire your brain to be able to overcome from being in Survival Mode. The perfect way to do it is to improve the input signals that your brain receives, in order for it to reduce the “pain/tension” output signals that it has always been giving as an survival mechanism. Once you have discovered what signals you need to improve, then you need to keep on improving those signals and to keep growing on that habit, so that your brain will continue to feel safe. That way you will be more often in performance mode and also you will know how to get back into performance mode more easily if you unintentionally have a minor set back. Neuroplasticity is a remarkable gift that our brains can do, so that anyone can truly overcome from their past trauma/injuries in their life.

Looking for direction on how to improve the input signals that your brain is receiving so that you can actively get out of survival mode and continuously be in performance mode?

One effective way is to Hire a Neuro-Performance Coach. He/she can work with you to help improve those specific inputs that your nervous system is needing in order to help you get out of Survival mode and to lead you to being in Performance mode for good. A Neuro-Performance Coach has the ability to analyse all the different inputs that each nervous system receives (ie: vision, balance, body signals etc.) and provide the appropriate stimulation as a way to rewire the brain to improve and get you to performing better. It is removing the barriers that have been preventing you from reaching your goals and ultimately giving you the opportunity to become a healthier version of yourself.

You can contact Mack to book your free 30 minute consultation:

Email – mack@ntperformance.ca or

Phone – 780-238-6225.

Thank you for reading my content. Please like, share and subscribe if this post resonated with you and you want to learn more. 🙂

Have a great day.

pain, performance

Everyone’s nervous system is unique towards pain and performance.

Neuro Training Performance

Everyone’s nervous system is unique, a small portion of it is contributed by genetics but the vast majority of the way you think, move and feel are based on the environment that you are situated in and the information that your brain receives from your environment.

Your nervous system receives information from your environment via your senses (eyes, ears, touch, smell, taste etc.), it then interprets that information and makes a decision on what to do with that information as an output. Based on prior experiences, culture, beliefs etc. of the inputs, your brain will either determine that incoming information is “safe” so that you can continue doing what you are doing or “unsafe” and will deliver a nociception ie. pain output in order for you to make a change. 

Imagine you are walking down a path and you see a dog a few yards ahead. If you have a history of having several encounters with dog(s) that were full of fun, calm and happy experiences being with dog(s), then you know that your behaviour with this dog that you are about to encounter with is going to be not anything different. However, if you unfortunately had a horrible, scary experience with a dog, then your behaviour might be different when you come across this canine. Your walk might change to a more stutter step, or you might feel tense more in your shoulders, neck, hands and/or feet. Your breathing rate might shorten, You might have muscles spasms or pain. You might also find that the emotions that you are feeling inside might be too overwhelming, too unbearable in fact that it will lead yourself to look for a different path to walk on, just so you don’t have to cross paths with this dog.

This is an unfortunate scenario, but it happens to several people who have had traumatic or harmful experiences in their past. Your brain remembers all of the moments that it felt unsafe in your past and if each input signal that your brain receives, consciously and/or subconsciously is reminded of an unsafe event, then it will generate a unique output to the body in order to change what you are doing.

Your brain creates these outputs as described in this example, it also can generate other types of outputs such as a startle response, varying your endocrine & immune levels, change of movement patterns, make you feel lethargic etc. All of these are outputs that your brain generates will take place in order for you to make a change.  It feels “unsafe” for what the body is doing or about to do and it generates these types of outputs as a way to communicate to you to say “we have to stop/ make a change of what we are doing.”

Knowing this, you might be asking, “if my brain is creating these types of outputs habitually, how would I change this so that I can walk calmly and confidently down a street or at any activity that I want to perform well in?”

I would say, “great question! The answer to that, is to modulate the inputs that your brain is receiving.”

After a thorough neuro assessment where I am able to assess how your nervous system functions as a whole, I will be able to gather information of what your brain needs in order receive accurate input activation, in a safe manner. These are the type of inputs that your nervous system consciously and/or subconsciously finds threatening. These types of inputs are unique to you, so that your nervous system can feel less threatened, feel more calm & confident in your own body and will have you be able to perform better at whatever activity that you are driven to do well in.

Some examples of inputs that I will be addressing and to provide training to your nervous system are: sensory activation, vision, hearing, smelling, balance and movement activation, breathing exercises to help improve brain fuel utilization.

As you can see, these types of information are what your nervous system receives as inputs constantly, in order to have you feel and move safely in your own environment. There will be one or many different input signals causing a dysfunction or not receiving accurate information, which then challenges your brain to function optimally in your own environment.

If the brain is confused with these different inputs signals, then it has a small tolerance window, so small in fact, that any additional stimulus/input that your brain receives will cause a “breaking point” or the “straw that broke the camel’s back” to your nervous system, metaphorically speaking.

The great news is that any of these inputs are trainable and your brain has the ability to rewire/retrain to have accurate information again. Regaining and reintroducing accurate signals to your nervous system will allow your brain to have an increase tolerance to handle more things in your day, plus being able to move and perform well, without the fear of being hurt. You are training yourself to become more safe and to be more in-tune to your body and the environment that you move in.

Allow me and my professional expertise to help you grow, prosper, and to show you how your goals can be achieved, all by training your unique nervous system.

Let me know if you have any questions, or how we can work together to help guide you from being in “pain/fear/restriction” mode and to lead you towards and to sustain in “performance/excellence” mode.

Thank you for reading. Please like, share and/or comment, if this post resonated with you.

Mack Rutherford

pain, Uncategorized

Have yourself a merry painless Christmas

Neuro Training Performance

       Think about a house full of people spending time together on Christmas evening.  All of the appliances are running to cook the delicious turkey dinner, every single light in every room is on, the Christmas lights on the exterior of the house and on the tree inside are sparkling beautifully and bright.  In every room there is a TV displaying a gorgeous fire in a fireplace and all of the music players are playing several holiday favourite songs. 

Everyone in the house is happy, laughing and having a terrific time.  One family member is late getting ready for the dinner party and just finished having a shower. They just turned on the hair dryer and “BOOM”,  all of the power goes out in the house.  It is unknown when the power will be back on and the Turkey is only half way cooked in the oven.  A Christmas evening everyone did not expect nor wanted.

This is very similar to how your brain can convey and communicate to the body.  Blowing a fuse in the house is just like a pain output your brain gives off to the body.  

Your brain is able to handle 7 +/- 2 things at once.  If your brain has any more input then theoretically, your brain will “blow a fuse” and will deliver a pain signal to anywhere in the body. 

Do not fret though, pain is a safety communication tool that your brain creates, in order for the body to stop what they are doing and to make a change.  Your brain’s number 1 job is to keep you alive and if it senses that you are unsafe, then it will create an output of pain anywhere in the body. 

There are several factors that come into play in order for your brain to handle several stimuli all at once, for some people (depending on their stressors, they can only handle 1-2 different stimuli before a “fuse bursts”).

Some factors you can start today in order to increase or maintain the right amount of stimulus, throughout the day are:

  1. Making sure you have 7.5+ hours of sleep every night.
  2. Making sure you are well nourished, and to eat and consume the types of food that can provide immediate energy to your brain and doesn’t slow down your metabolism.
  3. Go for a walk outside, move your body, perform your Neuro Drills (drills that deliberately make your unique nervous system feel awesome again).   These will help keep your brain active and it gives you the ability to maintain adequate stimulus that it receives from your eyes, body, and balance systems.
  4. Take time to train your respiratory system by performing breathwork.  Not only will this improve your energy capacity, you will feel more relaxed and all of the psychosocial stressors that are inflicted on you will start to fade away.

These are a few examples you can try to help your nervous system.  You know you are on the right track to live in a pain-free lifestyle when you recognize when your brain is receiving too much stimulus at the moment and you need to make a change, before a “fuse blows.”   

The drills listed above can be your solution to help keep you doing what you love to do, rather than adding barriers and limiting yourself of your capabilities.  By creating good, healthy neuro habits daily, you will create that neuroplastic change in yourself to be able to handle an adequate amount of stimuli all day long.  Fewer moments of blowing the fuse in your nervous system.

Please let me know if you have any questions and follow me for more tips on how you can train your own nervous system to work for you, not against you. 🙂
Thank you for viewing my content, Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. 😀

Have Yourself a Merry Painless Christmas!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

pain, Uncategorized

Does your brain currently have a “Blurred Visual Map”?

Neuro Training Performance

Are you still experiencing pain from an injury that happened several weeks/months/years ago?

You might be experiencing chronic pain in that area because your brain is seeking an appropriate stimulus to know if that injured site is safe to mobilize again.

If it hasn’t received that appropriate stimulus, then your brain will continue to give that area a pain signal until either:

A) You receive that appropriate stimulus(es) and then able to accurately mobilize that area in a safe manner or,

B) You take pain medication, which will only put a blanket over the symptoms and can potentially be harmful to your internal organs, vestibular system other parts of your nervous system etc. This option won’t actually help the primary issue in the long run, thus leading to unnecessary surgery or worse, adding more barriers to your physical & fitness goals. Or,

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C) You choose to just “deal” with the pain, refuse to take any pain medication and hope the pain will go away miraculously. However, this way will not only limit your performance, you are also more prone for injuries in the future and are adding barriers from achieving your physical goals

Client Story –

I recently had a client who came to see me because he had pain in his ankle ever since he accidently banged it on a rock when swinging on a rope near an open body of water.

He injured his ankle 3 months ago but the pain still lingered on especially when he walks fast or runs.

I initially talked to him about the modern science of pain. I described to him how damaged tissue should only take a few days to a few weeks to heal. Not 3 months from what he is experiencing.

After an elaborate discussion with him, and gathered enough data from his health history, I asked him if he was experiencing one of the following emotions towards his ankle.

The emotions were either – Fear, Anger, or Suffering.

I then tested an unrelated muscle strength, to get a good understanding of how his nervous system is interpreting any stimulus I give him. I found that suffering was an emotion that has been on his mind when he tried to walk, run or even mobilize his ankle.

After completing the treatment of having him look at his ankle and think about suffering, his nervous system was ready to reset that type of pain stimulus.

I had him run down the hallway afterwards and he said the pain was 100% gone.

He said to me the big break thru he experienced during my treatment session was that when I told him that his ankle is not injured and that injured tissues heal.

So the next time you are experiencing pain, anywhere in your body and you blame that significant injury you had several weeks, months, or years ago. Remember that your brain is giving the body that pain signal not because there is anything wrong or damaged to the tissues but because of the lack of point A) or because you are on the path for point B) or C) as described above.

Remember this:

Pain ≠ Injury and Injury ≠ Pain.

Give your brain the stimulus that it is missing and you will be able to be more stable, more mobile and have less moments of moving into pain.

I hope this post resonates with you. If you know anyone who is in chronic pain please share this post and I can do my best to help them understand that their chronic pain can be resolved, no surgery or medication required. They just need the correct stimulus that their brain is seeking.

Please comment if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading my content.

pain

Which road would you perform better on?

Neuro Training Performance

Are you still in pain or feel uncoordinated weeks, months, or even years after your injury?

Afraid to reinjure the area, so you tend to approach any activity in a more cautious manner?

There are ways to fix this issue. You have the capability to train your nervous system, to rewire what was damaged from the injury, to regain feeling and to improve the motor coordination of any specific area of the body.

Your brain is receiving and delivering signals throughout the whole body, all the time. During any type of injury, the brain needs to deliver a pain signal to that injured area, in order for you to make a change from what you are doing so that it can effectively rehabilitate the area. Once this happens, the brain has more of a blurred image of the sensory and movement map of the area.

Have you ever driven down a dark foggy road before? Chances are, you are much more cautious and are much slower at driving as compared to driving on the same road on a nice sunny day.

Well that is essentially the same to your sensory and movement map of your brain. After an injury, the area is the dark and foggy road, so your brain is more cautious about moving the area. You are more inclined to have your foot on the brakes. However, after reintegrating and improving the sensory and movement maps, your brain has a much clear understanding of how the area should move and feel. It will be more like driving on a clear sunny day, your foot will be more on the gas pedal, to keep going.

The brain is a remarkable organ as it has the capability to rewire any damaged or dysfunctional sensory or motor signals. So if you have unfortunately had an injury, there is hope!

You don’t have to accept that this is your new life of just managing your symptoms. Your brain can rewire itself, so that the sensory and movement maps of the brain can be much clearer and more detailed than ever.

Continue to manage your symptoms, your brain doesn’t have the opportunity to rewire from the blurred information, resulting that your brain will always be driving that same dark and foggy road, cautiously. However, if you add clarity to the sensory and movement maps, by training and improving these areas, your brain will be able to allow you to drive on the smooth clear road for a very long time.

What do you do daily to improve the clarity of your brain’s sensory or movement map? Please let me know in the comments below or if you would like some suggestions from me. 🙂

​Thank you for reading.

pain

When someone is in pain, I often ask these two questions.

Neuro Training Performance
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When someone is in pain, I often ask these two questions.

When I see anyone who is in pain and are seeking help to get it resolved,  I always ask them these two questions:

1. What happened during the event?

2. What happened prior to the event?

There is a lot of information I can gather by asking these two questions.  This can give me a better grasp on what areas of the nervous system I should be focusing my attention on. 

For example, I get numerous client’s that comment that they have severe headaches or back pain, but don’t know why? Then they mention that they upgraded their eye prescription to bifocals.  I then give them the realization that by wearing bifocals/trifocals/prisms end up giving your brain a lot of “mixed messages” regarding what they are actually seeing.  If the brain feels confused, it will deliver a pain output as to say “I need you to stop what you’re doing, because I feel unsafe for you to continue, so I will give you a pain signal in order for you to make a change.”

Another example:

 Client – “I always feel queasy and nauseous on boats, elevators, swings, amusement parks.” 

I then ask if any changes happened prior?  

Client – “I had an ear infection 6 years ago.” 

I then will be assessing at how their vestibular and vision systems are working and have the client train those areas, if they reassess well with that type of brain stimulus.

Last example – Client complains of shoulder pain when reaching for the top shelf.  

I ask them if any changes have happened prior to the first time you experienced shoulder pain?

Client – “no, not really…”

I then ask – any tattoos, scars, etc? 

Client – “wait? are you saying my gall bladder surgery has an impact on my shoulder pain?”

Me – “any tattoos, surgical scars etc causes a blurred image to your brain.  If your brain is receiving a blurred image of how your body should move and feel, then your brain will give you a pain output until the blurred image is more clear.”

I then will be assessing the sensory and mobilization of the skin around the scar and reassessing their shoulder mobilization, in order to justify that is in fact the root cause of their pain.

These are a few examples, and there are several more.  I treat everyone’s pain differently and that is because everyone’s nervous system is unique.

Hi my name is Mack and I am a Pain & Brain Rehabilitation Therapist.  If you are experiencing chronic pain and cannot seem to resolve it on your own,  I’ll be happy to see how my wealth of experience and understanding of the nervous system can help resolve it, and for good. 

​You can book a free 30 minute consultation or your neuro assessment consultation on my website  at www.ntperformance.ca. 

​Talk to you soon.

Have a great weekend.