Cerebellum: Home of Accuracy, Balance and Coordination

How’s YOUR Balance or Neurologically Speaking, How's Your Cerebellum?

The other day in my Brains and Balance class, I talked briefly about the cerebellum because the cerebellum is a vital part of the nervous system necessary for accuracy, balance and coordination; things we all need to get through this life gracefully or at least remain on our feet!

The cerebellum, also referred to as the “little brain”, is the brain’s integration center.  The cerebellum is involved in all movement; it responds to the cortical signal for movement, relays that message to the appropriate body parts and then gets feedback from the skin, joint and muscle receptors about the accuracy and coordination of the ongoing movement.

If the movement is poor, the cerebellum corrects the inaccuracies in order to produce coordinated, balanced movement.  

Movement is a dance between the sensory and motor systems and the cerebellum is a key player in the activation and inhibition of muscles.  Good balance, accuracy and coordination requires a healthy, well-functioning cerebellum.

In order for the cerebellum to be healthy, it must get consistent, timely input from our eyes, inner ear, skin/joint/muscle receptors as well as other parts of the brain.  Simply said, the better the input, the better the output.

Minimal to weak input signals result in no movement or ratchety and uncoordinated movements.    Poor input equals poor movement.  If the sensory inputs the brain don’t get activated on a regular basis, the input signals become weak and defective.  Your brain doesn’t trust weak and dysfunctional signals.  In other words, use it or lose it. 

Think about walking in the dark with little to no visual input; movement is slow, uncertain because the vision inputs are unreliable.  A cerebellum that isn’t activated regularly becomes dysfunctional and the consequences are evident; either in your balance, stability, coordination or all of the above.

In class we did some quick cerebellum tests.  First we did rapid toe taps.  Was the left as quick and timely as the right?  Then we did rapid hand rotations on the opposite palm.  Fingers and thumb straight and clasped together, we hit the back of the hand then flipped over to hit the palm of the hand against the open, flat palm of the other as fast as possible for 5-10 seconds.

Some inaccuracies in coordination and rhythm were immediate while others showed up after about 3-5 seconds.  For a few, this didn’t seem to be too difficult, at least for one hand!  That is completely "normal" finding however I suggest that you get your cerebellum activated! 

How do you train your cerebellum?  There are lots of ways but to keep things simple, to improve cerebellar function, train the inputs and practice circles and figure 8s. Accuracy, balance and coordination.  Activate your little brain to improve balance, accuracy and coordination.

Your Brains and Balance Coach~
Kelly
The Fall Prevention Lady

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