← The MSing Link
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Hello. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today we are going to be talking about one of my favorite topics, and I love talking about this as frequently as possible, but especially somewhat earlier in the year, in the first half of the year, because the topic is neuroplasticity. And I truly believe that if you know what neuroplasticity is and can understand it well enough where you can explain it to someone else in simple terms, and then that means that you understand it enough that it can provide you hope and motivation, especially during those times where exercise just feels impossible or your symptoms are flaring, or it just doesn't feel ideal to move. Because with ms, all those things are possible. But we know from research that neuroplasticity is the reason why, even with ms, it is possible to get stronger. It is possible to improve your walking, make daily activities feel easier. So that's what we're going to be diving into today. So we're going to talk about what neuroplasticity is and how does it work?
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The big question is, how does someone with Ms. Actually, actually improve their mobility, strength, energy independence? The list goes on. My name is Dr. Gretchen Holley, physical therapist and multiple sclerosis specialist. Welcome to the Missing Link podcast. Tune in as I share the top strategies and exercises to help you gain control over your life with ms, using research driven insights and advice from top industry experts. Whether you're newly diagnosed or have had Ms. For over 30 years, whether you have relapsing Ms. Or progressive MS, this podcast is for you. You're sure to feel empowered and inspired after each episode.
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Ready?
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Let's dive in.
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First and foremost, it's really important that we discuss what needs to happen in order for a muscle to move. Because a lot of people just assume that in order for our muscle to move, we just need to move our muscle. But in reality, there's three things that need to happen. The first thing that needs to happen is our brain needs to activate either through a reflex. So if you touch something hot, your brain reflexively has to say, that's hot. Move your hand off of that hot item and it's a reflex. Or it needs to be an active thought. So if you're walking and you want to move forward, then you need to have the active thought of lift your leg up. So your brain has to work first, either reflexively or it tells your body to move. But then this is where a lot of people forget this specific component. It doesn't just jump right to the muscle doing what it was told in order for the muscle to do what it's told and move, it has to hit that second component, which is the nerves. Once your brain says what to do, that message needs to travel down a bunch of different neural pathways and then it gets to the muscles. So it's a three step approach. Brain, nerves, muscle. The reason this is so important is because with MS, Ms. is not technically a muscular disease. Yes, your muscles are affected and it's, it's very likely that you might have weakness in some muscles. But the reason for that weakness is because of step number two, those nerves, the neural pathways, the nerves are demyelinated. That's what multiple sclerosis is, that myelin withers away. So that second component of the nerves, that's the part that's not working well. So when we're exercising with ms, we have to be focused on strengthening the nerves. And it is possible to do that if you are someone who has tried physical therapy in the past or even just exercises at the gym, or maybe you worked with a personal trainer or YouTube exercises and you felt like it didn't work for you. More likely than not, it's because it was something that was focusing on just strengthening the muscles. And again, we need to focus on strengthening the nerves, those neural pathways. So why is neuroplasticity needed? Hopefully this is already intuitive right now, just from what we just discussed. But in lots of conditions, the myelin around the nerve withers away, and specifically in multiple sclerosis, that withering away is demyelination. And what that does is it causes poison core signal transmission from our brain to our body. Meaning, remember, we just had those three steps, the brain, the nerves and then the muscle. If the nerves aren't working well, the message cannot get from the brain to the muscle. So you might be thinking, lift my leg, lift my leg and the leg's not lifting. And if you're nodding your head right now, like, yep, I've experienced that, it's because that neural pathway, those nerves, are demyelinated. And the message isn't getting from point A to point B from our brain to our body. And that can result in weak muscles in poor balance and difficulty walking. In almost every Ms. Symptom, we can trace it back to some type of limitation in those neural pathways. For 10 years, I've been helping people with multiple sclerosis. And what I've seen is that most people with Ms. Have a desire to get stronger and walk better, but what
- [06:07]
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they've tried hasn't worked. I've created a Revolutionary program called the Missing Link, specifically for people with ms, where I teach you how to strengthen your brain, your muscles, and the neural connection between the two, which is the key to seeing improvements in strength, walking, and everyday activities when you have Ms.
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I put my right leg out to this side.
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Regular exercise often doesn't cut it. But it's not just exercise. You'll experience the warmth of our supportive community, where every small victory is celebrated and every struggle is met with encouragement. Check the link in the show notes to learn more about the Missing Link and see if it's a good fit for you. Okay, let's dive back in.
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So what is neuroplasticity? Neuroplasticity is the ability of your brain to do two things. The first thing is it can strengthen those neural pathways. So if you say, lift my leg, and your leg does lift, even just a little bit, it might not be as much as the other side. It might not be as much as it used to be able to lift. It might feel heavy and hard, but it does lift some. That means that your nerves, your neural pathways for that specific muscle group are there. They are working. They're not as strong as they used to be, but they are there. So neuroplasticity is the ability to strengthen that neural connection for you. However, a beautiful thing about neuroplasticity is that it's also the ability for your brain to find a new neural pathway, meaning if you say, lift my leg and nothing happens, that tells me that your nerves from point A to point B for that specific muscle group, from the brain to the muscle, are so demyelinated that the connection has been lost. It is not there anymore. So neuroplasticity in this situation is the ability of your brain to find a new neural pathway instead of trying the same pathway over and over again, that it's not working. Your brain has the capability to find a completely different way from point A, which is your brain, to point B, which is your muscle. It's kind of like going to the grocery store. But if you always take the same path and now all of a sudden there's construction that does not let you go that way. Neuroplasticity is the ability to find a back road to the grocery store. And it can take a while. We'll get into that in a bit here. But it's not that it's going to happen on the first try, but there is a way for your brain to. One back road, if that didn't work, didn't get you to the grocery Store, you'll come back. Your brain can try to find a different back road, and there's all these different ways to try to get that connection working. That's what neuroplasticity can do. So if you have some strength in some muscles, neuroplasticity is the ability to strengthen those neural pathways so that the muscles get stronger. If you have little to no strength in other muscles, neuroplasticity is the ability to get strength in those muscles by finding a new neural pathway. With neuroplasticity, there's two main types of brain plasticity. So first and foremost, as we've been discussing, neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt and strengthen or find neural pathways. And there's two ways that this can be done. Type number one is structural plasticity, which is formed through experiences or memories. So this is. I often think of babies or toddlers, you know, they're learning to walk by practicing to walk by doing science experiments, by learning a new language, you know, hobbies, experiences, traveling, things that we've done before, we start to learn, and it becomes second nature to us because we are learning through it. The Second type, type 2, is functional plasticity. This is when the brain functions move from damaged areas to undamaged areas. So just like we were talking about on our way to the grocery store, if you hit an area that's damaged, AKA construction, can't go, there is going to be a way to find a different way where there isn't construction. That's the functional plasticity, and that's the type that we're more so talking about with multiple sclerosis. But both are possible. Type 1 and Type 2, meaning one thing that you can do to help with neuroplasticity is hobbies and experiences. So if you've been interested in learning a new language, learn a new language. If you've been interested in traveling, find a way that is accessible to travel. Read a book. There's so many different ways to get structural plasticity that type one, but we're mostly going to be talking about type two, the functional plasticity, today. So what we need to be working on is how do we get these neural pathways, these nerves, to grow and connect with each other. That's neuroplasticity. And when they connect, we need lots of connections. It's not just one, but when they connect, that is what is going to allow your muscles to work better. When we're talking about neuroplasticity because we can't see it or Feel it. I think it can be helpful to think of different ways that you may have noticed this personally or maybe in someone else. So almost like it's proof that neuroplasticity is happening. And I think it's so important to be looking for these things because some of these things can be really small proof that neuroplasticity is working for you. Could mean that if there's a specific movement right now that is super, super hard for you to do, but in a week or maybe a month, or maybe even three months from now, you now can move a few centimeters more or an inch more. That's neuroplasticity working. You're able to move more because those connections are growing and finding other. Some bigger examples though would be if you're not tripping as much. So therefore maybe your foot drop is occurring less often. Or maybe you've been able to transition from using a wheelchair most of the time to now using a wheelchair sometimes, but a rollator other times. Or maybe transitioning from a rollator to a cane or a trekking pole because your strength is improving and your balance is improving. This goes for more than just our leg muscles though. It's all of our muscles. It's even mindset. So if you're able to improve your speech, I know someone who has Ms. And her speech was really affected and she was able to retrain the muscles in her mouth and tongue to speak again and speak better, more clear, louder. That is neuroplasticity working. Learning a new language or any new skill. That's neuroplasticity working. Not needing a gps. This is my favorite one because I am someone who works really needs a GPs for about 10 times of going to the same location. But eventually I no longer need that GPS because I've learned the route that is neuroplasticity. Additionally, no longer thinking negatively 100% of the time, if you tend to be more of a Debbie Downer or self doubter, that is learned as well. And we can unlearn that through neuroplasticity. So it is possible that if you used to be doubtful or talk down to yourself 100% of the time, if you're starting to notice through work that you would be doing with the goal of this change, that you still talk down to yourself, you're still maybe in that negative mindset, but maybe only 75% of the time, that is proof that neuroplasticity is working for our mindset as well. Thank you so much for staying with me this whole time. I know that neuroplasticity. It's a heavy topic. There's a lot to learn, but hopefully it does feel a little bit more tangible for you now.
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Thank you for listening to today's show.
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I am so grateful to have you as a listener.
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If you'd like extra resources, such as a video of one of my seated exercise classes, my favorite core exercises, and the opportunity to ask me your questions, head to missinglink.com insider. That link will be shared in the show notes along with links to my social media handles. If you loved this episode and think a friend or family member with Ms. Would benefit from listening, please go ahead and text or email this podcast to them right now. Sharing this podcast will help me educate and empower as many Ms. Warriors as possible. Thanks again for joining, and be sure to tune in next week for another
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episode of the Missing Link podcast.