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WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGY?

Traditional medical neurology tends to look at disease of the nervous system as black- and-white with one side being optimal neurologic function and the other being neurological disease such as tumors, strokes etc. Functional Neurology looks at more subtle dysfunction in the nervous system and trying to catch or find things before a distinct medical pathology exists. You will often hear it said by functional neurologist that neurons need fuel and activation in order to thrive and survive. Fuel can be defined as oxygen, glucose and essential nutrients. Activation refers to stimulation of the nervous system which causes changes in the structure and metabolism of the nerve cell. More recently, Functional Neurology Practitioners are also involved with eliminating possible negative effects on neurons such as toxins, infectious agents and immune responses.

Four factors that are of high importance in functional neurology care are:

1.  Determining where the failure in the nervous system and/or body lies.

2.  What would be the right stimulation to activate that area?

3.  What is the health and condition of the failing area, so as to determine how much stimulation would be too much.

4.  Adapting this vital information in order to apply that precise amount of stimulation to the patient in our office.

It is important to note that the stimulations used, must be specific to the particular patient who is being treated. There is bio- individuality to the nervous system, just as individual as a fingerprint, and such that even those with similar symptoms may require different stimulations at different frequencies and intensities in order to achieve the best success. This cannot be done in a generalized or cookbook type program. For example, you cannot treat every patient with a balance disorder or ADHD with the same treatment protocols. Generalized treatments run the risk of exciting an area of the nervous system that is already overexcited, or stimulating an area that should be inhibited. Results are maximized due to the fact that the program of stimulations is tailored to the individual patient’s problem and capacity, and not a one-size- fits-all program where results may be limited or the program may actually be inappropriate.  In other words:  Different people, different brains, and therefore, different treatments.

It is important to note that the functional neurological examination although very detailed is noninvasive and therefore can be performed on many different types of patients without patient anxiety being a factor. This is very significant especially for those practitioners treating children on the autism spectrum, because there is a tendency for these children to have higher anxiety.   The skilled Functional Neurology Practitioner realizes that everything from the patient’s posture, to tics, to faulty eye movements, and alignment are all expressions of what is going on in the patient’s nervous system. Subtle though these expressions may be, to the highly skilled Functional Neurologist, these little things can mean a lot.

Activation of the nervous system via specific exercises or stimulations to targeted areas of the brain, pathways or circuits can create powerful results in the patient, but should be carefully monitored, so that the metabolic capacity of the patients nervous system is not exceeded, and damage does not occur instead of the intended rehabilitation.

Functional neurology is on the cutting edge of health care.

Functional neurology is a field of study that achieves successful results by applying current neuroscience in an office setting. This means that the Functional Neurology Practitioner is taking current neuroscience from the research laboratory and devising ways of applying that research in the office to treat patients. The training begins with neuron theory and progresses to a level that allows the practitioner to evaluate and treat dysfunction of the nervous system without the use of, or in conjunction with medications.

The concept of functional neurology is relatively new and therefore begs the question” What exactly is functional neurology? ” This is an inquiry that I get asked when doing presentations, and by email on a regular basis. Hopefully the above helps to clarify some of the questions and misconceptions out there regarding Functional Neurology.

The following is a list of health conditions people have shown significant improvement with:

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL IMMUNOLOGY?

In a nutshell, It’s using Medical and Peer-reviewed research to unlock the underlying cause of disease and dysfunction, and then help heal human physiology without he potentially unwanted side-effects of pharmaceutical drugs.

Most of the patients we see have already failed to respond effectively to the standard methods of care available to them in a conventional medical setting. The well-known, well-established approaches to their care have failed, had poor clinical outcomes, or been of limited value.

For these patients, other factors including nutrition, genetics, epigenetics, neuro-emotional issues or some other type of stress on the body have interfered with the effectiveness of these types of standard approaches. These patients need a functional clinical approach based on an understanding of key factors in their underlying physiology.

The application of research-based clinical tools that match those physiological targets a dialed in an interpretation of patient responses and modification of care in a series of necessary steps to allow one's physiology to heal…. That’s the reality of what it takes to help patients improve in the highly toxic world we live in. Food isn’t what it used to be.

Mastering Immunological Mechanisms

Typical clinical practice norms are behind in the research by ten to fifteen years. These patients can’t wait. They need a clinical approach based on emerging research, skillfully applied by clinicians who have the knowledge to handle their cases. The key guideposts you need to understand are all either inherently immunological or are powerfully influenced by immunological mechanisms. Functional Immunology gives you mastery of these key guideposts, so we can understand our patients’ problems with far greater insight, manage their cases with far greater skill, and share with our patients the fulfillment of seeing them improve and live healthier and happier lives.