Brain Pathways: A “Global” Environment Dr. Carrie Steffens, Ph.D. December 13, 2011

Many ways to think about a “global environment” Sometimes we consider things on the scale of the world or earth as a whole Sometimes we look at a smaller environment that works independently as it’s own system All of this appeals to me because of my experiences as a scientist What I’ll be talking about today is science, but in my own personal experience

The Body as a “Global Environment” All of you have been to the doctor and understand that when you are sick (i.e. have a sore throat) the doctor looks at much more than just your throat Your body must be considered as a whole because there are many parts and systems that are working together to keep you healthy There is a problem that exists sometimes where there appears to be an issue with one part of the body, but the complication is actually at a completely different location

Brain to Hand Conversations The brain is “talking” to all of your body parts at the same time through different types of message carrying pathways One of the most important of these pathways is the flow of oxygen – carrying blood through the heart to the brain and all of the other body parts Because the brain is the command center of the body, a serious problem occurs when the brain does not get the oxygen it needs

Blood flow video OvH8

Solving Problems involves a “global” perspective As you saw in the video, when there is damage to the brain, the problem can actually be “seen” in another part of the body In my case, this is observed with my left hand My brain did not get enough oxygen for a short period of time, and as a result my left hand does not work properly

Definition of Global 1:of, relating to, or involving the entire world (example of skype: solving problems at a different location) 2: being comprehensive, all- inclusive, or complete ***our focus

Identifying the Problem My doctors knew very quickly that even though we saw a problem with my left arm and my hand that the problem was actually in my brain Document camera can show you how my hand wants to behave if I let it do what it wants My brain is constantly sending a message to my hand to contract the muscles This gets worse in a stressful situation – any time you are not relaxed and your body knows something out of the ordinary is going on

Video of Hand Opening Under normal, relaxed, non-stressful conditions, my hand will open almost completely Sometimes I need to use my other hand to open it all the way. This action sends a message back to my brain, and this type of reverse message is often targeted as a therapy option

How Does this Apply? So how does this apply to what you are doing here today and how we can use technology to fix our problem? I’m going to tell you a little story about something that happened to me while I was working on getting better in the hospital

Carrie’s Wheelchair Story For safety reasons, when you are a patient in the hospital you always need to be transported in a wheelchair. If there is a student that can come up to help me explain what they have learned about how a wheelchair works, that would be really helpful Clairification: 4 movements can be made using a wheelchair: forward and reverse (requires the use of both hands simultaneously), right and left (requires independent or directed use of one hand or the other)

The Story Continues… My wheelchair problem occurred because (can you guess what happened when I tried to move myself forward?) – instead of making myself go straight using both hands, I could only use my right hand This would cause my wheelchair to start turning and continually bump into the wall My doctor saw this happening and thought my brain was causing me to go the wrong direction, but didn’t realize that the real problem was simply that I couldn’t use my hand!

Compensation When one part of the body or one part of a working system cannot function any more, another part tries to take over those responsibilities so that everything continues to work right Definition of Compensation: “Something that constitutes an equivalent”

Examples of “Help” by Compensation Something trying to become an equivalent of something providing a function for the body can come from different sources – Inside the body example: new blood vessels formed in my brain to create new pathways around the spot where it was blocked – Externally: we can use devices or machines to help us do things that body parts can no longer do for us, for example…a WHEELCHAIR!

The Challenge Design a wheelchair that can be used by a person who can only use one hand!