Functional Neurology MinuteFunctional neurology explained
What is Functional Neurology?
Have you heard of functional neurology but you don’t understand what it is?
Or maybe you have even been to a functional neurologist but you’re still not clear what’s going on.
You’re not alone!
Functional neurology is a relatively new discipline showing profound results for today’s ever increasing issues with brain disorders: Concussions, brain injury, memory loss, fatigue, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, autism, childhood brain development disorders, and so on.
This site is home to functional neurology patient education articles, interviews, and videos about non-pharmaceutical, non-surgical approaches to rehabilitating brain-based disorders.
Functional vs. conventional neurology
While conventional neurology diagnoses neurological pathologies that can be treated pharmaceutically or surgically, functional neurology looks for a broader range of brain dysfunctions that can be rehabilitated.
Conditions commonly supported include:
- Chronic Pain
- Movement disorders
- Balance disorders
- Stroke rehab
- Childhood brain development disorders (ADHD, ADD, OCD, autism, etc.)
- Brain injury
- Mood disorders
- Memory loss
- Cognitive decline
Addressing underlying causes
Neither drugs nor surgery are appropriate or effective for many brain-based disorders.
Functional neurology uses a variety of techniques to assess which areas of the brain are breaking down. For example, an important aspect of the exam includes observing how your eyes respond to various stimuli.
Why the eyes? Because humans are so visual, the eyes involves almost every part of the brain. By assessing how they respond to visual stimuli and during movement gives the practitioner insight into your brain function and how best to rehabilitate it.
Other exam techniques involve what balance, coordination, gait, and rotation challenges say about your brain.
The functional neurologist uses the exam to create rehabilitation exercises that activate sluggish areas of the brain or dampen over active areas.
This is a broad overview of some functional neurology basics. For more information, contact your local functional neurologist!