How far does neuroplasticity go?
We’ve talked before about improving the brain’s abilities over time. On this blog, we’ve looked at how neuroplasticity allows for boosts in memory, thinking skills, and emotional regulation.
But what about recovery after a major trauma – like stroke?
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, led by Steven Zeiler, MD, PhD, wanted to see how quickly the brain could recover after stroke, and whether training made a difference.
First, they gathered mice and fed them a restricted diet, reducing them to 85 percent of their starting body weight.
Next, they trained the mice in a food retrieval task. To receive a food pellet, the mice needed to reach through a slit in a cage, grasp the pellet, and eat it without knocking it over.
Once the mice were fully trained in the task, researchers induced strokes in some of the mice, while conducting a sham procedure in others.
After the induced stroke, the mice lost their ability to carefully grasp the food pellets. Yet 48 hours after the procedure, researchers began retraining the mice, and after a week, they could grab the pellets just as effectively as they could before the stroke.
According to the study, a specific part of the brain, the medial premotor cortex adapted to control reaching and grasping.
What does this study mean for us?
Now, obviously, this study has a generalizability problem, because it was conducted on mice. Human brains are vastly more complex, and we can’t assume that training humans to recover from stroke would be as simple.
But these results are heartening all the same.
In only a week, the mouse brains were able to reorganize themselves to recover lost function. And the researchers argue that their data are consistent with data showing that primate brains can adapt in the same way.
With more research in this field, we can hopefully find simple, powerful training exercises to aid patients recovering from brain trauma.
In fact, there is something that will show you just how powerful brain change can be. Click here to check it out.
If you’d like to read the study, it was published in issue 44 of Stroke.
Have you ever worked with a patient who suffered from stroke or another form of neurological damage? Did you use any kind of training regimen to help them? Please share your experience in the comments below.
My husband had a stroke this may his recovery is great but now it’s December and he still is numb on right side . He seemed to be better after rehab but now he feels the numbness even more as two months ago he had the watchman put in his heart due to vI stant afib but he’s not letting symptoms stop him from doing all he can he just built another chicken coop his memory is perfect but his short term is kind of impaired . He speaks like he has no difficulty except when he tries to focus on a word his file cabinet tries to find in his brain ….he can’t find it for a minute but then it comes to him ….other than that , if you look and talk to him you would NEVER GUESS HE HAD A STROKE…the dr has him , until we go to see him in two weeks, on plavix, ASPRIN, 120 mgs of diltiazam and 0.1 mgs of clonidine two times daily . They had him in artovastatin but two months ago I stopped it and I give him two red rice yeast pills instead. His legs were starting to swell two weeks ago and I called Dr to cut his meds down . He had him on diltiazam twice daily , I told him to cut that to one 120 mg, and instead of three times a day 0.1 msg of clonodine I cut I’d down to morn and night only. He still takes the baby ASPRIN daily also, Dr said d if he sees that his heart skin has started to cover the device , that Dr implanted to stop strokes from occurring ever agsin, and if it does he will take him off all meds in three months. He will have him on a diff bp Med for rest of his life and 80 mgs baby ASPRIN since he would be out of the woods from the device that was implanted in his hearts appendage…to stop future strokes from happening with his heart ever…. he is so fit and healthy as he’s always been , very active …soccar player all his life we are 70 now . He’s doing so much yet neuroplasticity is not happening on his right side so he can regain his feeling, better…his mind is working. Perfectly normal speech no impairment . He remembers all we’ve done together and how we hav gotten over all the challenges in our life and all I want is for his right side to not be so numb anymore. I’m doing the feel objects in the bowl game so he can guess what they are but he drives as well remembering ever road and short cut in St. Louis city/ county . No problems . He is genuinely not stopping. He says he knows his numbness is maybe from not walking enough, he looks great but I KNIW it’s from the area of his brain which caused stroke but I don’t te TRY ll him that to worry him and I tell him Its going to get better as his cardiology said last monthj Awww . He was confident when he said I’m not worried Habout those numb feelings , because they WILL GO AWAY.,,,,, but when ? How lgotng does it take and what can we do to trigger our out we n gave for my ph no oo
If anyone has any information at all about the use of psilocybin for neurogenesis in stroke victims, please contact me at burrrk@me.com
This could be in the form of anecdotes, references, studies, etc. Thank you!
I was so confused about what to buy, but this makes it undtrseandable.
After 9 years post stroke and trying everything from standard physio to the weird and wonderful i had little improvement, with my neuro re-hab consultant having gave up some years back i was at a total loss and still could not accept living in a motorised wheelchair as my way through life with longevity a family feature being 58 i viewed a possible further 30 to 40 yrs in a chair as horrendous never mind electricity costs to re-charge it over that time so i started into these visual exercises today i’am able to walk with a tripod around 30 metres i now can drive and despite being 9 years post brain bleed i now expect to overcome all effects and regain complete recovery.
I gave reiki to my dog after he had a stroke and he was out playing with his ball next day and been fine since.thank you reiki and my guides.
Myself I have had two strokes5 years ago I am 75years old,I-am trying very hard to re train mvy 3/41 0oyfthe brain I have left,I read, study alli can fine, icant pay any money for much of twhe in for, I can not balance well enough to walk, one foot &one arm is crooked, I see people like gabbygiffen getting help but I can’t find a ny tkns
Please note the change in my address. Look forwarrd to hearing from you for the next webseries. Thank you. God Bless Barbara
There are no words to say how invaluable the articles AND the comments are.
Having had a stroke myself in 1997 and now carring for my husband having had quadriple by-pass
surgery only two months ago and an aging mother with Alzheimers, everthing I learn and relearn
is like a new breath of life.
With much Love and grateful appreciation I would like to say THANK YOU!!!
Transforming the Brain Through Good Experiences
Rick Hanson, PhD
Author of Just One Thing
Why Ancestral Survival Skills Trip Us Up Today
The Sensitive Amygdala: Why Positive Experience Is Critical for Tuning the Brain
Making Change – From Individual Neurons to Whole Regions of the Brain
From State to Trait: Turning Fleeting Experience into Lasting Change
Why Ten Seconds Matters: Making Every Moment Count
The Brain’s Version of “Vitamin C”: The Key Resources Your Client Needs
Moving from Reactive Brain to Responsive Brain
WOW HOW IMPORTANT ARE POSITIVE GOOD LIFE EXPERIENCES? NO ABUSE, NO NOT LOVING PROTECTIVE PARENTS (GROWING UP) NO TRAUMA – WARS – RAPE – KILLINGS – NO NEGATIVE SCHOOL (Oh the Nuns were terrible!) NO BROKEN HEARTS FROM PEOPLE ( HUSBANDS (OR WIVES) CHEATING AND DEPRIVING KIDS OF PROPER HOME (LOVE RESPECT ADORATION etc !) WOW. Oh oh and EATING PROPER FOODS SO THAT WE HAVE PLEASURABLE GOOD EXPERIENCT Nourish the Brain the Body and Soul Joz
I worked with a man who had had a stroke when he was just 47 years old due to a genetic problem with his blood cells. His wife brought him to me two years after the stroke and after he had been dismissed as “no further improvement possible”. I worked with him for 7 years and in that time, improved his functioning and his life enormously. He learned how to get clearer about his internal sensations, despite constant thalamic pain that he described as being a level of around 10%.
He was able to use a golf cart to go to the nearby junior college and take classes in music and other interests, allowing him to get out and create more friends and social life without being dependent on his wife for all such enjoyment. This gave him the feeling of having a life that wasn’t restricted to just staying home or to visits to his doctor. The quality of his life was greatly improved.
One of my earliest clients was a significant stroke patient of 20 years previous. She had been through a lot of rehab work to recover but there was still significant limitations in the functionality of the left side (arm and leg). Within half a dozen treatments she commented that her body felt much more relaxed and integrated, but that her coworkers had noticed obvious change (particularly that they could not differentiate the sound of her foot fall from others anymore). This was mind boggling for me at the time, but you realise just how plastic the brain and body can be, even many years after the events.
One of the really noticeable articles I read at the time was experiments with rats and induced stroke and that if a rat had a single whisker stimulated with a paint brush very soon after, then total recovery was much higher. I take from this (and experiences in my work) that the sooner you get to offer the body very clear simple stimulation the quicker the recovery, but recovery can still happen no matter how much later you offer it.
My first stroke was misdiagnosed June, 2008. I suffered a second stroke October, 2008 which left me unable to speak and paralyzed. I was with the family celebrating my daughter’s birthday at a picnic on a mountain. I was taking pictures when all of a sudden I entered an altered state of mind, everything was slow motion and the voices I was hearing were so faint. I managed to get back to my seat and i realized I needed to put my camera in its case, however, my brain single to my hands were disconnected. I fought it with extreme power and was able to achieve my goal to drop the camera in the case next to me. My 32 year old son came over to me asked me to to do simple tasks like smile, hold my hands up and stick my tongue out….at that time he called my older son and asked him to call for transport to A STROKE HOSPITAL ! Moving forward, I had NO voice for 12 hours, during that time I meditated (I have been meditating for 35 years, TM) I was still in the Emergency Room…I was gently brought back by a soft voice asking me to respond to a few questions by nodding my heard if I could. I answered him “YES, I will do that.” My voice was back, not my normal voice, a very slow drawn out version. I was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit…when I was alone I got out of bed and did some Yoga and slow, in place movement with my feet. I asked my daughter to bring my Brain Sync Deep Learning CD…I wanted to train my brain to develop more Theta activity ~ that was a 24/7 practice. Moving forward…I needed no physical therapy ~ and no speech therapy. I was rehabilitating my mind, and body, however, I was forced to eat the MOST nutrient deficient food EVER. Being a vegetarian I was given canned veggies, grilled cheese, jello, whole milk … need I go on ? I had to get home to feed my body whole organic foods….my body was craving them. While in the hospital I was diagnosed with A-Fib, the reason I had two strokes ! I was asymptomatic, silent A-Fib. The story goes on simply because I was not receptive to the harmful drugs they wanted me to be on. I have been drug free since the strokes and that was MY choice, I don’t recommend my protocol to any of my patients. I took responsibility for my own health.
Wonderful work you are doing Candace. I am interested in this work because of the range of people I work with and their varied emotional and physical situations I come across. The list of therapies and physical activities are very broad and individualized to each person and situation.
I have encountered a situation in my own family that has stumped me as to where to go and what to try next.
This family member was born with cognitive limitations that was diagnosed as Mychro-caphalic, with mild developmental disabilities. Always been outgoing and physically strong and well. This summer he has been tested for Lyme Disease and Co-infections; Babesia and Bartonella after a downward spiral of losing capabilities. We are working with many professionals. He has lost much of his body mass and much of of the cognitive ability to problem solve. Thiis reminds me of some of the stroke victims symptoms. The parasites of the co-infection seem to be attacking the nerves in the brain and extremities.
I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered brain issues with Lyme and the Co-infections delivered by the ever increasing tick population, especially in the Northeast coastal section for the country.
This is already happening, but it is not so simple. It is called Constraint-Induced therapy. In the human brain, it takes thousands of repetitions sometimes as much as 10,000, but the brain will rewire for these complex movements. Clinics exist where patients can progress through a series of computerized exercise machines that engage both mind and body. For example, the person’s weaker arm may be strapped into a devlce that is set up to mimic certain movements and provide the right amount of functional electrical stimulation to the muscles. A computer screen is in front of the person. The person plays a computer game that provides motivation for them to repeat the same motion over and over again. As the person progresses in regaining functional movement, they are placed on different machines providing less assistance until the brain has rewired itself to create the movement patterns itself. There are machines for arms, hands, and ambulation. Of course, this is the most elaborate system. A highly skilled therapist can recreate this with simple electrodes and functional electrical stimulation. The problem with this method is finding the most highly motivating activity that includes fairly fixed repetitions, as well as knowing the best placement of the electrodes. With mice, the act of eating is so highly repetitious and motivating, I can see how that came back so fast, especially since it was already so highly trained and well wired. Yes, humans are more complex but the technology and skills already exist and most major rehabilitation hospitals are quickly becoming equipped to do this.
Congratulations to Candace, above, for some amazing personal work.
I recommend Jill Bolte Taylor’s remarkable work, her TED talk, and her book, A Stroke of Insight.
In her book she describes how she had to completely relearn most of what her left brain knew how to do, but also how much she also needed to be left to deep inner quiet and not have too much stimulation, noise, etc, early on. It is a remarkable story, and she makes a a strong, direct recommendation for most of us to become a little more “right’ brained. She also decided to choose what conditioned beliefs she did not want to recover!
After sufferings 20 mini strokes personally, I found rest, cognitive pacing strategies to avoid overload, Yoga, exercise ( including weight training) and now acupuncture to be useful strategies. I left hospital in May with a cane and am now snow shoeing. I tailored my professional practice to limit complex cases, returned to work 3 weeks later, couldn’t drive for 3 months, was driven by friends through Lots of Helping Hands and learned to have increased compassion for people with invisible disabilities. I’m listing these details as I couldn’t find anyone w a similar medical diagnosis and hope the information can be of some help to others. I also began a gratitude practice focussing on my remaining strengths vs my deficits.