Anatabine is a Solanaceae plant family (Tomato, Tobacco, Egg-plant) alkaloid marketed in the US as a dietary supplement.

Anatabine has been shown to inhibit NF-κB and STAT3 phosphorylation in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis, acting to reduce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other markers of inflammation, and to reduce cell and tissue damage caused by overproduction of these molecules ( Paris D et al Eur J Pharmacol. 2013)

It has demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects in vivo and in vitro, and may be useful for musculoskeletal aches and pains.

In a 282 person survey 232 (82%) reported a benefit from anatabine supplementation for one or more joint pain conditions, most commonly the knee, wrists/hands/fingers, shoulder, and back, most often due to osteoarthritis or injury to the joint. Lanier et al Clinical medicine insights. Arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders 2013)

A 12 week study on humans with Hashimotos thyroiditis,  anatabine-treated patients had a significant reduction in absolute serum TgAb levels (thyroid antibodies relative to those receiving placebo (P = .027). This was a  >20% drop in TgAb levels in the anatabine than placebo group. The researches concluded that the dose of anatabine may have been too low, although the amount taken per day (0.17–0.25 mg/kg, so better results may be obtained from a higher dose. (Schmeltz, L et al The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2014).

In animal  model of autoimmune thyroiditis, anatabine decreased thyroidal IL-1β and  IL-18 levels which are inflammatory cytokines and macrophage COX-2 which also rises in pro inflammatory states.

This compound show promise for aiding patients with Hashimotos as well as aiding other autoimmune disorders.

Anatabine is structurally similar to nicotine, non-toxic and binds to  acetyl choline receptors, offering improvement in working memory and attention in a variety of pre-clinical and clinical studies, but without the addictive properties of nicotine.

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Brain endurance training (BET) is a digital training  method to cognitive load to the brain to fatigue. The brain in turn will adapt to this, like muscles do to training and get ‘stronger and better’.BET focuses on cortex and cerebellum based cognitive tasks such as STROOP tests, multi object tracking, decision making, ability to sustain attention, response inhibition, are a few of the drills that can be utilised. The neurological drills matter.

They are hard, boring, frustrating, fatiguing and only for serious athletes or professionals who want to raise their game.

Training is like a drug the dosage and timing needs to be right. With sports performance it always needs to be as specific as possible, especially when it comes to training the brain.

Most professionals simply have not done the leg work or research  into creating programs which integrate the brain with the body . Many are toying with the idea because it looks cool and neuro is a buzz word, but hard data is needed nowadays for new ideas to be taken seriously in medicine or competitive sport. As a scientist this resonates with me. A 5% improvement in a measurable skill or variable is considered significant or ‘of value’ in pro sport.

New research by sswitch lead by  New Zealander Grant Hayes and Dr Walter Staiano  using the  SOMA NPT Platform  which was designed by Grant has revealed some interesting insights into the effect of BET on athletes.

Brain endurance training in professional athletes has been shown to enable them to:

• Sustain longer periods of endurance
• Sustain pain for longer
• Maintain higher levels of cognitive function under fatigue
• Maintain agility under fatigue
• Improve accuracy
• Reduce errors even when fatigued
• Offset mental fatigue for longer

You can read the full research on SOMA NPT performance enhancement on professional footballers HERE  

This type of training can be used for any professional or person wishing to improve their mental resilience. You might be a student, a musician, a CEO or an armature athlete

How did I find out about BET?

I have known Grant personally for many years and I have nearly completed an 8 week BET program using the SOMA app and specific drills to improve power, vertical jump height,  mental endurance and raise pain threshold. I will provide the data and videos in the next blog to see what the results show. My program consisted of 70min BET 3  times a week, which I was just about to integrate into my schedule as the training of course causes mental fatigue. I found it took my brain about 4 weeks to respond, that was when I felt and saw results.

Why I like the The SOMA NPT platform

The SOMA NPT platform is very easy to use as it runs on apple devices. It is portable and can travel anywhere and does not require a special set up that wastes time.

Adherence to the program is monitored as  data is collected  for every session, allowing trends over time to be assessed and the program modified accordingly. This means it is very hard to skip a session and then claim ‘This isn’t working’.

There is the coaches side of the platform which I can log into and monitor those who are undertaking BET programs and check their progress, using their SOMA IDs. The client or athlete side is purchased via the APP store and is about £17 per month (can cancel at anytime), which is cheaper than a private session or gym membership, so is a very small investment for a very useful bit of brain training.

Which drills do I do and how often?

The final part,  you need a BET program which is easy to obtain as a one off fee (the same as a 1 hr private session with me) or you could even invent your own BET program using the drills you find in the app.

We all know the that the more you put into training the more you get out

As I have said 90min of BET a week is the absolute minimum, that would be 30min 3x a week. In one of Grant’s studies the athletes performed 100min a week. When I did my BET I did 210min per week.

I train about 4-5 times per week and 4 of those sessions are gymnastics classes that are 90  min long and many of the participants are in the 20s and I am in my 40s, so I attribute a lot to the neurological training I have done.

No matter where you are in your career or sports season BET can be used to to boost your brain. 

I offer additional assistance in getting you set up with Performance Plans to save you time and get you started. The best way is Facebook messenger as I will reply promptly! See the messenger Icon on the right hand side of the page.

Thanks for reading !

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The vestibular system – functional significance

The vestibular system or inner ear AKA your balance system is the fastest system in the body and vestibular imbalances cause a whole host of problems other than just bad balance.

Our brains are wired for SURVIVAL and a functioning vestibular system does the following;

•  Allows us to see our prey/ predator and move quickly at the same time – or to play most sports or chase after kids.
•  Stabilises visual  image on retina – Being able to read while being a passenger in a car.
•  Stabilises the head and neck in relation to the body during movement- Prevents ‘bobble head’ when moving about playing sport, dancing or just going about your daily life.
• Tells your brain which way is up- During a bad attack of vertigo people often need to lie down as the brain is disorientated
• Provides information on how fast you are travelling and  in which direction so you can easily navigate your way around the world.

The eyes provide visual information to the brain and the joints / skin / muscles provide information on body position in space (proprioception).  All of these incoming sensory inputs are processed by different parts of the brain to allow you to move easily and safely through the world as well as make the correct decision quickly.  This means the vestibular system is just as important to the average Joe Bloggs as it is to a professional athlete.

The concept of sensory mismatch

The brain views the eyes and the vestibular system are very important and ‘believes’ the information they give. The whole body adjusts for the eyes and the vestibular system, which means if there is something wrong with the information that the vestibular system or eyes provide to the brain it will have an impact on other systems in the body. There is a neurological link between the gut and the vestibular system, which is why you can feel sick when you get dizzy.

Sensory mismatch is when some or all of the information gained from the senses is of bad quality (eg you have poor sight in one eye). The brain now has to try and process the bad input which uses up resources or it can just use it, which could mean being inaccurate when trying to hit a ball.  Postural issues like head tilts and some types of scoliosis in the spine are due to a vestibular issue. Your brain thinks your head is straight, but it isn’t really.

From a health and wellness perspective, sensory mismatch can cause the following.

• Vertigo
• Dizziness
• Neck pain or stiffness
• Nausea
• Back pain
• Blurred/Double Vision
• Balance Problems
• Lack of coordination
• Anxiety
• Headaches
• Sympathetic wind-up (over active fight or flight response. Feeling ‘stressed’ all the time.

Case Studies / Examples

The reason spine pain, vertigo, vestibular issues and headaches can be so difficult to treat is because there are many parts of the brain or nervous system that can be affected.  The two examples below are ‘visual vertigo’ and ‘Proprioception dependence’ as they are quite common.

Visual Vertigo

Triggers:

Passive locomotion, e.g. riding in a car or traveling by boat or plane

•   viewing an optokinetic stimulus (passing train, walking down supermarket aisle, passing telegraph poles)
•   watching large moving visual objects (traffic, clouds, trees)
•   viewing a large screen motion picture

These people have become over dependant on  their visual systems for orienting themselves around the environment,  their vestibular system has become ‘lazy’ and their proprioception is inaccurate. To fix visual vertigo, working on the vestibular system and proprioception (touch, spatial awareness, parietal lobe) rather than vision exercises would be the best approach.

Proprioceptive Dependence

These people often have tight necks which flare up after stretching, massage or treatment. This is because there is mis communication between   the vestibular system, eyes and brain and the brain isn’t sure where the head is in space or how to stabilise the neck properly. Muscles in the neck tighten to stabilise which then causes pain or stiffness. When the neck muscles are released by a physio or osteopath they have accidentally taken away the compensatory stability, so the brain then ‘panics’ which can set off pain, cervicogenic vertigo or muscles tightening even more than before.

May stiffen spine as compensation strategy => adjust => decompensate => dizzy / nausea / pain / tightness

People are more prone to cervicogenic vertigo if proprioceptive input becomes unreliable, e.g. injury to paraspinal muscles and/or spinal joints, rapid head movements, neck pain, neck muscle fatigue, prolonged periods of inactivity, massage.

A combination of visual and vestibular exercises would work best for this type of vestibular issue, rather than massage or stretching.

There are other types of vertigo and other causes for chronic spine pain, but if it is something that you suffer from then looking into your vestibular system should be one of your top priorities.

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This week I will be talking about pregnancy and brain training. Pregnancy is a very exciting time for mums and dads to be, so in this blog I’m going to talk about some neurology and brain based fun so the dads to be can feel included.

In this blog I will talk about  parts of the brain/nervous system which are the cerebellum, the vestibular system and parietal lobe and why they are important for mum and baby, but also how the exercises are in fact useful for all of us. My friend who is pregnant kindly agreed to be my model for the pregnancy exercise  video I am currently making. At the end of the blog  there is a link to a 9 min home workout ‘Neuro Pregnancy on the ball’, which is in fact  suitable for anyone interested in improving their brain and nervous system, not just pregnant ladies. The full 1hr video will be available in a few weeks.

I have taught pregnancy classes since 2010 and love it and its very very easy to just focus on mum and baby, and totally forget about dad!

Movement and exercise in pregnancy

We all know that being active and keeping mobile is part of a  good healthy lifestyle, whether you are pregnant or not.   In terms of your unborn baby’s development,  the vestibular system AKA balance system  develops very early on, when the foetus is small even at 10 weeks, its pretty much somersaults around in the womb, which is great stimulation, meaning t your baby’s vestibular system/balance  is well developed at birth, where as baby’s visual system and other brain are far behind.  Staying active during pregnancy  is key for helping your baby develop his/hers  balance system in the womb and yet another  reason for mums-to-be to stay active and bounce that bump.

Baby Brain – What is it is it real 

Firstly, most people who have been pregnant or been around someone who is, which is pretty much the whole population have heard of ‘Baby Brain’, as in getting more forgetful during pregnancy. The jury is still out on to whether this this is fact or fiction.  The results of one study claimed that women ‘tricked themselves’ into thinking they were becoming more absent-minded simply because they had been told this was a likely symptom of pregnancy, so just a placebo effect. Another study suggested that women do in fact become slightly more forgetful with respect to menial tasks, so that more focus and energy can be put into their own inner workings, what the unborn baby is doing and preparing the home for the new arrival. Meaning is selective amnesia, or the brain filtering out information that is not baby related or deemed to be  important. Additional studies suggested that baby brain was possibly caused by lack of sleep, as during pregnancy it can be difficult to get comfortable at night and many women wake during the night to go for a wee.

In my experience, I have found that women who are in their 3rd trimester get better at remembering where they put an object or where somebody else put the object, so they become the car keys and iPhone finders. On the other side of the coin, I have found that sometimes pregnant ladies find  coordinating new  movements in an exercise  class a bit tricky. So why is this? It’s in part becasue the cerebellum which is a part of the brain involved in accuracy, balance and coordination can be affected temporarily by physiological changes which occur during pregnancy, more about this later.

A huge amount goes on in a woman’s body during pregnancy, so I could write a blogs on ‘Pregnancy and Hormones’, ‘Pregnancy and Mindset’, ‘Biomechanics in Pregnancy’, ‘Posture and Pregnancy’, ‘Hypnobirthing’ and then mine fields like ‘Supplements in Pregnancy ‘.  But for this blog it will be about ‘Pregnancy and the Balance System’ as other people who aren’t pregnant, such as Dad can benefit from the content too. So what has the balance system got to do with ‘Baby Brain?’

The Inner Ear (Balance System ) and Parietal Lobe (Sensory and where am I on space) 

The cochlea, which most people have heard of  is a  structure shaped like a snail and filled with two fluids (endolymph and perilymph) and deals with hearing. Also within the inner ear are the semicircular canals, the utricle, and the saccule which are the loops on top of the snail in the picture below, which for now we will say deal with balance. These balance organs share the temporal bone space with the cochlea and the same fluid that is in the cochlea. So in order to work the inner ear in part uses fluid dynamics, which gets disturbed  when a woman is pregnant, due to  extra blood volume, it is not damaged or broken. This means during pregancy your balance system can be a bit wobbly at times.

The part of your brain which deals with sensation and where your joints are in space, the parietal lobe also gets disturbed during pregancy as the body shape is changing , baby is growing  so the brain constantly has to process this.

Body parts are not in places it is expecting and also the brain has to re-learn how to move this ‘new body’ with a body inside. So the overall effect in pregnancy  is a bit of a loss of spatial awareness and being able  to coordinate movement.

During pregnancy a woman’s blood volume slowly increases by 40–50%.

The increase is mainly due to an increase in plasma volume through increased aldosterone. This means that over the course of pregnancy a woman’s heart rate can increase by 15 beats per min.  The blood vessels develop first, to accommodate the new blood volume, and this is why early in pregnancy some women feel lightheaded and get low blood pressure. On this note feeling dizzy and feeling light headed, faint or woozey are two totally different ‘symptoms’ which can easily get mixed up when patients describe how they are feeling to a doctor. Feeling dizzy also shows there is something up with the balance system, and what it means is ‘Do you feel like you spin?’ or Do you feel like the world is spinning? if so ‘In which direction is the spinning’.

The balance system in the body AKA the vestibular system (inner ear) plays a role in cognition and mood, it also integrates and talks to the cerebellum (little brain behind the brain) which controls accuracy, balance and coordination of movement and  cognition.  During pregnancy the balance system is affected due to the extra blood volume, meaning the other systems which it connects to will also be affected.

Our daily lives and balance system

Daily we do movements consist of rotations, spins, bends, forwards/  back and up/down,  translations and side bends, the vestibular system senses all of these in different ways so basically your brain always knows where you are in space (even if you are doing a forward roll, handstand or lying down) , which way is up and also so you don’f fall over every time you move

There are  two main  components to the vestibular system :

1. The semicircular canal system, which monitor  rotational,  turning or twisting  movements of the head.

2.  The otoliths  which monitor  linear accelerations, so in lay terms moving up and down (jumping or squatting)  or forwards and back (sprinting or doing press ups).

When you jump up and down or squat you stimulate part of the balance system called the  the saccule  and when you move forwards and back you stimulate the utricle. 

The vestibular system sends signals to the neural structures that control eye movements and to the muscles that keep us standing up.  The vestibular system’s job is to keep you upright and therefore plays a big role in posture and spine stability.

For those who are interested in neurology

The vestibular nuclei on either sides of the brain stem exchange signals regarding movement and body position. These signals are sent down the following projection pathways, so this is  some of what the vestibular / balance  system talks to.

•  The cerebellum. Signals sent to the cerebellum are relayed back as muscle movements of the head, eyes, and posture.
•  Cranial nerves III, IV, and VI. Signals sent to these nerves cause the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) . They allow the eyes and head to work together so you can keep a target in focus without it getting blurry.
•  The reticular formation in the pons and medulla  area also called PMRF which lives in the brain stem. The PMRF controls global tone on its side of the body, pain,  signals sent to the reticular formation signal the new posture the body has taken on, and how to adjust circulation and breathing due to body position,
•  The spinal cord. (vestibulospinal tract) Signals sent to the spinal cord allow quick reflexive  reactions to limbs and trunk to regain balance. The vestibular system/inner ear has a large control over legs and spine
• The parietal lobe.  V2 area  in the primary vestibular cortex  of the parietal lobe so that the position and movement of joints can be monitored relative to gravity and head position
•  The thalamus. Signals sent to the thalamus allow for head and body   control  and  being consciously aware  of body position. [1] 
• Via the Ventral Pathway, which tells your brain which way is up, so the  perception of the direction of gravity.[2] 

For everyone else

It doesn’t matter if you are not into neurology as in the video I will explain in lay terms  how each exercise works on your brain and nervous system with reference to some of points above. I have not covered all the points, otherwise the video would be too long. Not all pregnant ladies get issues with balance, coordination and memory, and of course lots of people who aren’t pregnant get memory, balance and coordination problems. Some pay a lot of money on fri/sat night to get pissed, mess up their cerebellums and to get  balance, coordination and memory disturbances.

The post Is Baby Brain a Myth? Simple Neruro Exercises For Pregnancy appeared first on Sara Pugh Pilates Hypnosis Nervous System Biochemistry Leeds.

Hello and welcome to my blog

I’ve not written a blog here for a while, however here is one on Parkinson’s Disease as I work a lot with people with this conditions.

As Vlogs are becoming more popular I have included a video on a session I did with the Harrogate Parkinson’s UK group this August, I know the group reasonably well, therefore it is not a presentation, more of a conversational session. I was  fortunate and honoured to be invited back as I did a  session earlier in the year at the group’s AGM, I will include this video next time. The video you have today is pretty much unedited, apart from some of the ‘naughty jokes’ that I was told by the group combined with my own rude sense of humor ! Laughter is so important for us all, particularly those with PD.

This blog is more about exercises for people with Parkinsonian symptoms rather than the condition itself, and these exercises are of huge value for those who are just interested in improving their own nervous system.

These exercises are for everyone, but are particularly helpful for those with PD.

Just to run over a bit of neurology as I kept the video simple in terms of the science behind why I chose to use certain exercises.

The brain’s primary objective is survival

The brain needs

a) Fuel  b) Activation

The brain receives an input, makes a decision and produces an output

Parts of the brain that are important in PD

Frontal lobe – The king of the brain!  Executive functions, gait & movement 

Parietal lobe – Sensory and meaning

Midbrain –  Arm swing, walking, eyes, wakefulness/sleep

Basal ganglia – rhythm, walking, learned movements

Cerebellum –Accuracy, Balance Coordination

Midbrain  is part of the old brain. The cortex is king and the midbrain is its bitch. Substantia nigra (dopamine producing cells) lives in mid brain

Working with the shoulders is a way to stimulate the midbrain and the intermediate cerebellum. Convergence which is going cross eyed, stimulates cranial nerve 3 which is in the midbrain.

Cranial Nerves which are important in PD

Olfactory nerve CN1 –Smell

Facial nerve and CN7 –Facial expressions, hearing

Vagus nerve CN10 –Parasympathetic All organs inc gut

Vestibular system (Inner ear)  –Balance, posture, falling

Thank you and goodbye

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It doesn’t matter if you are a professional athlete, a mum athlete or just enjoying your retirement and playing with your grand children, balance matters. Balance is a sense we take for granted, but like other parts of the body it needs to be challenged, stimulated and maintained. There are many interesting exercises in the Pilates repertoire that are perfect for improving your balance.

Did you know

• • After the age of 40 your senses, such as balance and vision begin to degrade, unless you train them
• • Falls are one the biggest source of serious injury and death in adults
• • The vestibular system/inner ear control spine stability as well as balance. Pilates can help your vestibular system, if you pick the right exercises
• • In pregnancy, due to the extra fluid, your vestibular system/inner ear need extra attention
• • Exercising when you are pregnant and moving the bump around helps your baby develop a good ‘sense of balance’ before he or she is born

The vestibular system/inner ear controls muscles in the body, so if it is imbalanced, then so is your body. People can develop inner ear problems following infections such as labrythitis, a blow to the head, whiplash, certain medications and problems with their eyes. You will feel imbalanced as a result of the left inner ear working in opposition to the right.
Your body has the following 3 internal satellites or GPS so it knows where you are in your space and surroundings
• Your Visual System
• Your Inner Ear (aka Vestibular System)
• Your Movement/Sensory System (aka Proprioceptive System)
To move efficiently, powerfully and gracefully through the world, you need great signal quality from your satellites and great signal integration in your brain.

Your vestibular system / Inner ear does the following

• Tells you where you are in space and orientates you to your surroundings.

• It helps you plan and control your movements to get where you want to go.

• It tells you how fast you are moving and when you will reach your destination
• Plays a big role in squatting and jumping

• It talks to the midline cerebellum which is the little brain behind the brain.
A healthy midline cerebellum is key to cognitive function and preventing dementia

• The vestibular system helps to coordinate head and eye movement, so that vision isn’t blurry via the vestibuloccular reflex or VOR

• When your vestibular system/inner ear isn’t functioning properly these are some of the symptoms
  Vertigo
  Motion sickness
  Muscle tension
  Pain Weakness
  Bad posture
  Poor coordination
  Bad gait (odd walking)
  Anxiety
  Anger
  Motion sickness

As part of my work, I test people’s vestibular system so I have lots of exercises and advice which will be part of the next blog.

Thanks for reading

The post Lost your balance? The inner ear, dementia and spine stability. appeared first on Sara Pugh Pilates Hypnosis Nervous System Biochemistry Leeds.

1. Bouncing on a Swiss ball This stimulates the saccule which is part of the vestibular system called the otoliths that senses and modulates vertical movements, amongst other things. Doing squats and using a reformer jump board also stimulates the vestibular system. The vestibular systems job is to keep you upright so it is huge in posture and spinal stability.

2. Swan Extensions stimulate the cerebellum, which is the little brain behind the brain. The cerebellum is key to accuracy, balance and coordination for all movements in the body, so this includes speech and eye movements. The sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) ‘lives’ in the thoracic spine so keeping the thoracic spine mobile will not only help posture, but will affect the sympathetic nervous system as well.

3. Leg circles Any complicated non-linear movements of the hips or shoulders are great for stimulating the intermediate part of the cerebellum as it has to continuously adjust and modulate the circular movement, this a good thing! The cerebellum is stimulated by novel movements as well, so doing a leg figure of 8 or changing the speed of the leg circles will provide extra stimulation. The the nervous system loves novelty and complexity.

4. Book openings or side lying open doors, this is a neurological field day and deserves a blog to itself!
If you focus on your thumb while you move your arm and head together, this is called a VOR-C (cancellation of the VOR, which is the vestibuloocular reflex) The brain has to resist the temptation to do a VOR, so it overrides a reflex which is good for training the frontal lobe and teaching the brain to resist temptations and urges. Also being able to focus on your thumb, move your head and not get distracted or dizzy by the background is very useful skill and good for rehabbing some types of vertigo.

5. Side bends ( lateral flexion) again deserves a whole blog post . Doing a side bend perfectly is pretty tricky. I find people have the most trouble doing side bends and rotations. As I say ‘Getting good at side bending should automatically improve your back and forward bends’
What’s the deal with side bends anyway?
The act of side bending the head is neurologically challenging for the brain and eyes, as it requires good balanced vestibular, visual and cerebellar function, something which needs to be trained or rehabilitated. Often people will lean over into the bad vestibular system side. Like I said the vestibular systems job is to keep you upright, so if one side is being lazy the posture will be affected on that side.

Having one side of the brain more active or dominant than the other (hemisphericity), will of result in imbalances in muscle tone, strength and flexibility. So the left and right sides of a person can be like Arthur and Martha before they even start moving , so any sort of side bending activity is going to be challenging.
Just moving the head recruits a whole host of reflexes, neurological pathways and cranial nerves. The biomechanics of spinal movements involved in doing a side bend are pretty complicated too. Doing a sidebend involves rotation, translation and tilting of the vertebra, not just than just bending over to the side.

The next blog is on Pilates and Yoga Dos and Donts for vestibular and balance issues

The post 5 Pilates exercises I use all the time that train your nervous system and your body appeared first on Sara Pugh Pilates Hypnosis Nervous System Biochemistry Leeds.

I’m going to make my work into a practical workshop to anyone can make a home program, which will be presented at the Parkinson’s North Yorkshire AGM, Ill film it too so that it can be viewed by a wider audience.

So, this months blog is about Parkinson’s disease and some easy neurological exercises that can help with some of the problems associated with having parkinsonian symptoms.

The main brain areas which I focus my work on with people with Parkinsonian symptoms are as follows

1. The midbrain – Why? Dopamine is made here in the substabtia nigra, midbrain plays a big role in sleep and many other reasons..see next blog
2. Olfactory nerve (CN1), smell – Why? Because syneuclein builds up in the olfactory bulb and can affect sense of smell
3. Vagus nerve (CN10), organs and gut – Why? Gut issues are common in Parkinson’s
4. The vestibular system, particularly the anterior canals, as they are linked to the frontal lobe and are more affected.

An upward OPK (opto kinetic reflex) trace is great stimulation for the midbrain and the anterior canals, this is what the black and white stripe on the featured image is.

Here is an example of an OPK trace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTiNB_NHqs0

There is also an app called optodrum which can be obtained for apple and android devices.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/optodrum/id374981098?mt=8

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