Training the Neural Edge

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

“The Brain Reigns Supreme”

If you attend one of my courses, this will be drilled into your head; because, frankly, its true.  Renowned neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert explains, “We have a brain for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to produce adaptable and complex movements.  There is no other reason to have a brain…movement is the only way you have of affecting the world around you.”

The brain controls every single physiological activity that takes place in the body.  Logically, we know this, but sometimes we really need to step back and think about how crazy it is that the brain can control everything that goes on in our body simultaneously.

Physical training of the body is essentially training the brain.  It makes it more efficient readies it for activity.  Physical activity has also been shown to improve memory and cognition.  These are just a couple of the reasons that I believe so strongly in movement based therapy.  It’s also why I’m developing a new course on facilitating the nervous system for better movement (“Neurofacilitation for Better Movement” – launching the Fall of 2016).  The brain is in control…always.  And, if we can improve the efficiency of the nervous system, we can adapt and change how we move.

Improving the nervous system is a lot like any other training.

We can use training for a 10k race as a good analogy for training the brain…
For someone who has not trained very much for a 10k race, it goes to reason that typically the more they train, the better they perform.  We see this over and over.  If they progressively increase their mileage and intensity, they will run faster and faster.  But, if they train too hard or too fast, they can become overtrained and develop fatigue and injury.  Distance runners also benefit from drill work to improve the quality of their running mechanics, which, in turn improves their efficiency.  High quality distance runners recognize that they need quality mechanics and they need to be able to do it over and over if they are going to reach their top potential.  Training for a 10k also needs to be specific to get a good result.  Meaning, if you want to run a 10k well, it doesn’t make sense to only run 100 meter sprints.  There is a direct correlation between what we feed the body with the results that we eventually receive.

Training the nervous system is very similar to training the runner.  Overall, the more you stimulate the nervous system, the more efficient it becomes.  The brain loves repetition, so, for the most part, repetitive training of the nervous system will provide great results.

The nervous system is also shaped by what it is fed.  Meaning, what goes in, tends to come out.  If you feed the brain a crappy input, you will get an even worse output.  If you feed it well, you will like what it gives back in return.  This is why quality is so important.  The brain will remember the motor patterns that it is being fed.  If you want a crappy squat, keep allowing crappy squats in their training.

Just like running, the nervous system can get overt rained.  Neurofatigue can become a real problem for athletes who train extensively for years with little time to recover.  This long term over training is often overlooked.  Mike Boyle has discussed the need to change the training methods significantly as the training age increases to allow for more and more recovery.  Not doing so will definitely lead to plateaus in training over time.

So, how do we improve someone’s neuro efficiciency?

I love the concept of training up to a person’s neural edge.  This concept can be applied to just about every patient and every movement.  It’s really more of a mindset more than anything else.  The idea is that you are putting your patients into what I consider a “high neuro load activity” and modify as needed to make it difficult, but attainable.

A great example as to how we can do this is with a 1/2 kneeling position.  Half kneeling occurs when someone is on a single knee postural position.  For those who aren’t very stable, they should keep their foot and knee at least hip width apart.  If that is challenging, but attainable, then they are at their neural edge.  You can hang out there, or perform presses, halos or other variation based on your preferences.

For many, hip width will be easy.  If you leave that person in a hip width stance, you won’t be challenging the nervous system enough to make permanent changes.  For that patient, start to inch their front foot closer and closer to the mid line until they become unstable.  Once you know where they’re unstable, move the foot back out slightly so they are at that point of attainable, but difficult.  You want them to “win” at this.  After you’ve identified the appropriately challenging position, lock it in with repetition.  Motor learning occurs with low load, high repetition strategies.  Over time, you should see their ability to get closer and closer to the mid line with more and more control improve.  This is neuroplasticity at work.

The concept of training to the neural edge can be applied to all patients, regardless of their injury or desired outcome.  For some chronically ill patients, standing or walking may be at their neural edge.  For higher end athletes, it may be in a single leg stance with some sort of a perturbation or unstable component that pushes them to their neural edge.  Where and how they get there, isn’t that important.  What’s important is that you consistently challenge them with difficult, yet attainable movements that are low threshold, high repetition strategies.

The last thing to consider with training the neural edge is fatigue.  You must remember that motor learning doesn’t work very well when a patient is fatigued.  Performing high neuro load activities should be done early in a workout (after a good warm up of course).  Once the quality of motion begins to deteriorate, the activity should be modified or they should be allowed to fully recover.  Recovery may involve a short bout of rest or active recovery in the middle of a training session, or it may be that you simply end the training session for the day and allow them to come back when they are fully recovered and fresh.

Because the nervous system is so important to the human body, training the neural edge is a really effective concept that can and should be applied throughout the recovery process (and for healthy athletes as well).  Effectively doing so will pay huge dividends for you and your patients.

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