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Jodi Christensen 2012 class Page 1
Neurophysiology exam
Neurophysiology is important to the practice of Clinical Somatic Education because we use the
sensory-motor loop function of the brain to improve the function of the neuromuscular system of
the body; re-educating the nervous system to become more efficient and synergistic. Somatic
Educators teach the client to regain voluntary control over muscles and release chronically held
tension patterns by moving slowly, with awareness in a comfortable range of motion cultivating
beneficial, synergistic movement patterns in contrast to harmful, compensatory movement
patterns. Somatics is a process of learning to sense into muscle contraction and then lengthening
that muscle by focusing on internal sensations and feedback as opposed to external stimulus and
feedback.
The word somatics comes from the Greek word soma, which means the living body in its
wholeness. The soma is a process rather than something solid and static, constantly changing and
adapting to its environment. The soma is self-healing, self-regulatory and self-correcting. The
body responds to the stimulus it is given. By practicing and allowing yourself time to become
quiet in your body and mind, and responding to your body’s innate intelligence you create a
more dynamic connection to the sensory motor loop. If you give your body force it will respond
with resistance called stretch reflex. Through Somatics the Nervous Systems communication
with the muscles improves, so you become more and more self-aware and self-correcting. The
body seeks to evolve and become more efficient. To enhance the efficiency of our movement is
to enhance our vitality physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The human nervous system is divided into the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral
nervous system (PNS). The CNS is located within the cranium and vertebral column, consisting
of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS consists of nerves that are outside of the CNS, nerves
joined to the spinal cord and the brain.
The PNS includes the somatic nervous system (SNS), which can be controlled voluntarily, and
the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which works involuntarily. The ANS consists of neurons
that detect changes in, and control the activity of the viscera, such as smooth muscle, cardiac
muscle and glands. Our work is with the SNS, which includes the skeletal, voluntary muscles of
movement.
Action potential (AP) is an electrochemical current that travels down the axon. AP is created
when a nerve cell gets excited. It reaches a certain threshold of electrical charge, a quick
exchange of charged particles takes place, which flow all the way along its membrane to the
axon terminals. Specific chemical agents that are stored in the presynaptic endings are known as
neurotransmitters in the CNS and as transmitters in the PNS. Some of the neurotransmitters are
noradrenalin, dopamine and serotonin. When the action potential has been triggered, it then
conducts along the nerve cell in a wavelike, cascading effect, named a nerve impulse.
A nerve is made up of bundles of neurons. The body is constantly gathering information/
impulses through nerves. Nerves that carry information from the peripheral receptors to the CNS
are called afferent/sensory neurons. Nerves that carry information away from the CNS are called
efferent/motor neurons. They innervate skeletal muscles of the SNS to cause movement.
Upper motor neurons come from the cortex down to the brainstem and spinal cord. Lower motor
neurons come from the spine to the muscle. The quality of our motor output and movement is
determined by our sensory input and how perceptive we are to those sensations.
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If a muscle is stretched it will respond by contracting, this is known as stretch reflex. When a
muscle is stretched a message goes from the muscle spindles in the muscle via the sensory fibers
to the spinal cord and motor neurons and then another message is sent back to the muscle to
contract. In Clinical Somatic Education we are conscious not to activate the stretch reflex as this
is counterproductive in lowering the tension level of a muscle. This is why we don’t use force
and work within the client’s optimal range of motion.
The brain consists of about 100 billion neurons that are linked together and make up a neural
network. The neurons fire in sequences. It is these patterns that we work with.
The cerebellum, also called the little brain, is attached to the brain stem by a large mass of nerve
fibers. It controls coordination, proprioception and body movement. Simple actions and
responses that are learned, coordinated and memorized are stored in the cerebellum, such as
bicycling and walking. The cerebellum does things quickly. It does pre-programmed movements
and helps smooth movements.
The thalamus is above the midbrain and is mainly a switching station for both sensory and motor
input and output. Neurons come into it, synapse and then go somewhere else in the brain. The
hippocampus is an important structure because it does short term memory and it helps us to put
things into long term memory. The amygdala, part of the limbic system, helps with long term
memory and learning. The basal ganglia facilitates purposeful movements and inhibits unwanted
movements. It receives motor and sensory information from the cerebral cortex, brain stem and
spinal cord.
The area immediately in front of the sensory cortex is the motor cortex. In the motor cortex
exists the homunculus, with a disproportionate representation of how much you’re able to sense
into areas of your body. About 1/3 is devoted to face and lips, 1/3 to hands, and 1/3 to the rest of
the body. This is why Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA) occurs easily in the somatic center and
legs. SMA is a loss of voluntary control of a muscle and can be sudden or gradual. When SMA
occurs we have forgotten how to move and sense a muscle. When doing somatic movements
sometimes the movement is not fully smooth but with bits and pieces that are jerky or jumpy,
this is a sign of SMA. It’s an adaptive response of the nervous system and because it’s learned, it
can be unlearned. You can further reverse and avoid SMA by continual self care movements that
re-educate and improve your sensory motor system.
The reticular activating system (RAS) is responsible for regulating arousal and sleep-wake
transitions. We don’t detect normal, we detect change through the RAS. The system decides
what we do and don’t need to pay attention to. This plays a huge role in SMA. Somatic
Educators assist the client in noticing what they don’t notice.
The motor cortex plans, controls, and executes movement of voluntary muscles. It synapses on
little neurons inhibiting the alpha motor neurons. The motor cortex is responsible for conscious,
slow and inhibiting movements. This is why when practicing Somatics we move slowly with
internal focus and awareness.
The sensory cortex senses movement by receiving and integrating sensory information from
different proprioceptors, such as the Golgi tendon organs and the muscle spindles to construct an
understanding of the object being felt.
The sensory and motor areas of the brain are of importance to us because they are the primary
areas of the brain we work with. These are areas of the brain that can be cultivated and enhanced
for more synergistic and efficient movement or can be ignored creating more compensatory,
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painful movement. If you don’t exercise sensing and moving an area of your body, it will fall
into disuse. Use it or lose it.
With Somatics we sense into compensatory unconscious patterns by slowly moving through
these patterns without force and sensing into movement of that area. Lasting improvement is
achieved by sensing, re-educating and repatterning from the inside.
Somatic distortions reflect problems of the person’s life-style, body, and soma. When we re-gain
greater sensory-motor control we also receive benefits in other areas of our life.
What differentiates Somatics from other modalities is the skill of Pandiculation. This is a
process where the client is asked to voluntarily contract a muscle and guided to slowly and
voluntarily release out of this contraction. The art of pandiculation is working directly with the
sensory motor loop. When you experience unconscious movement, you are using the brain stem
and the cerebellum. By working with voluntary muscle contraction, you take it up into the
sensory motor cortex, resetting the resting tonus of a muscle.