The term of Neurological Health was coined by Dr. Jose Palomar as a general definition of health. The human Central Nervous System (CNS) is dealing with millions of stimuli during every moment of life, and it should be able to manage the information it receives in order to constantly adapt all of its systems to the ever-changing internal and external environment.
Neurological Health is the process of constant adaptation of the CNS to the internal and external environment.
Reflexes are the basis of all processes in the human biological system. They are an automatic response after a stimulus has been administered. The complexity of the sum of our reflexes determine our conscious and unconscious behaviour. Any stimulus may potentially cause inhibition or facilitation of our reflexive systems or induce a background to create a new reflex which will directly influence our motor, endocrine and vegetative responses. The balance and integrity of the facilitatory and inhibitory processes in the CNS is the base for proper Neurological Health. In case of maladaptation, CNS may attempt to create a solution to compensate for the malfunctioning of its systems in order to maintain its homeostasis, balance and functioning.
Neurological dysfunction would be a temporary solution of CNS to deal with the stimulus it can not manage without additional compensatory resources. The CNS may then create a new compensatory response to keep itself functioning. Neurological dysfunction is a form of a “pathological reflex”, where the dominant afferent signal affects the normal reflex. The example of such a dysfunction, could be the inhibition of a stretch reflex in a muscle, caused by a high abnormal signal from the ligament that is associated with that muscle. As soon as the aberrant signal is decreased, the muscle will be functioning properly and its reflex would be normotonic (normal) again. Fear paralysis is another example of protecting reflex. If for any reason it is active, it would affect muscular reflexes and posture.
The primary goal of P-DTR is to improve the performance of the CNS, restore sensory-motor homeostasis, reflexive activity and increase the potential for adaptability in all levels of functioning. What are those levels?
Physical health is a proper activity of the musculoskeletal, endocrine and vegetative systems. Movement is our primary activity. Everything we do as humans involves movement at some level. Breathing, digesting, seeing, hearing, talking, smiling and any other movement are controlled by our motor system. Our vertical position and orientation in space are controlled by different reflexes such as the stretch reflex, vestibular reflexes and many more.
Every muscle in the body is responsible for a certain action. Movements are a complex interaction of groups of muscles. If for any reason the particular muscle isn't integrated properly into the movement, it can affect the whole body. All systems of the body have specific functions and all of them are connected and influenced by each other. Each movement of a group of muscles is controlled by reflexes.
Emotional Health is an indication of our CNS performance and our reaction to an ever changing environment. We process most of the incoming information we receive subconsciously and our emotions are the indicators of the quality of our interaction with the environment. Our emotional reactions depend on how we interpret the incoming information. Emotional maladaptation can cause brain fog, depression, loss of interest for life in general, mood swings and many other problems which may affect the quality of our life. Social, conscious psychological problems may be a result of complex maladaptive subconscious activity of CNS. Physical dysfunction may affect our emotions and vice versa. Neurology is the father of Psychology. Cognitive Health is our ability to think and logically structure our life strategy. It is our ability to interpret ourselves and the world around us on a conscious level. To achieve the best results in life, we have to make decisions all the time. Cognitive processes are vital for our performance at work, our relationships and any other socially significant targets. Conscious cognitive interpretation will affect our emotional reactions. Inaccurate interpretation of ourselves or our environment may potentially affect all our systems. Cognitive Heath is a capability to interpret the stimuli of life, plan our behaviour and implement the requisite motor actions.
These levels are crucial for our well-being and they are influencing each other. To understand all the interactions in CNS and maintain Neurological Health it’s a life challenge. The concept of Neurological Health provides the tools for a profound self-assessment and self recognition.
In P-DTR, apart from treatment, we are learning to understand ourselves from the neurophysiological perspective - how our CNS functions, why we make a particular decision, what are the reasons for our particular behaviour and reactions, how and why different stimuli can affect our performance and the main thing - what we can improve to perform better and be more successful, healthy and happy.
The prior target for any P-DTR practitioner is to be healthy himself to start with, and than provide his patients with a high quality knowledge and services.