Brain Re-training for Ringing in the Ears

We all have had some type of injury or trauma to our body and soul.  A fall, a fracture, a scratch, a sprain, a concussion, a stomach virus, a verbal assault, a car accident; the list goes on.   You may forget the details but your brain doesn't.

Your brain remembers EVERYTHING.  Such as where you were looking when you fell, the details of the encounter, the fragrance of the dental assistant's hands, music in the background.  These details matter when healing.

Injured areas may be too weak to send signals to the brain that are strong enough to make change.  As a result, you  need to stack several drills together so neurons pool together in order to send super strong signals to the brain to thereby create positive change.

I am working with a lady who has lazy eye.  She also has Eustatian tube (inner ear) problems on the same side.  This is because the nerves that innervate the eye muscles and the ear tube are damaged.   As the nerves begin to die, they switch into hypersensitive mode.

In other words, a dying nerve craves attention; it doesn't want to die so it becomes hypersensitive to anything and everything.  The result?  Ringing in her ear.  Tinnitus, or ringing in the ear is a nerve problem.  For anyone who knows cranial nerves, tinnitus indicates cranial nerve #7 problem however cranial nerve 5 and 8 are also involved in tinnitus.

In her treatment plan, the focus is to activate these dying nerves.  The results have been good but they're not lasting.  The results aren't lasting because the the injured/damaged nerve is too weak to send strong enough signals to elicit long-lasting change.

This calls for "super stack" powers activated!  In other words, we put all of her high payoff drills together at once.

The result?  The ringing in her ear got lighter in sound and lower in pitch.   YAAAAAY!

The message?  The injured nerve is too weak to send messages to change the brain by itself; she has to send stronger signals to the brain from the right side of her head.  In order to do so, she has to stack several of surrounding nerve drills at once to create a signal that is strong enough to the brain and activate change.

Drills need to be done frequently and with high repetition.  This is not easy, but tinnitus can be fixed.  She was thrilled the ringing was lowered and lighter but she was discouraged at the amount of work she needs to do to fix it.

It's up to you.  If you're willing to do the work, you can fix your tinnitus.  There is no magic pill and if someone says there is, they're lying.  Neuroplasticity requires work; activate, don't medicate.

Legally blind still need to train eye muscles

Vision is so more than eye sight.  This US Veteran is legally blind and learned how to train his eye muscles for less pain, better posture and more confidence.

Neurology is so cool.

Legally blind student in Brains and Balance Training class in Ranch Cordova explains how the vision drills have helped him.

As his instructor, I watched his eye movement improve tremendously..  His left was exophoric the first day, meaning the eye ball would look out to the side.  Through targeted vision training drills to strengthen the weak eye muscles, his left eye is now more 'in line' and focused forward.  Not bad for a four-week class.

He has had multiple back surgeries and spinal fusions so in order to live completely free of pain will require a lot of practice of vision and targeted brain activation drills.   All things are possible when you believe.

"You gotta believe it to see it".

Parkinson's Group in Lincoln Touched Their Toes Today!

I was the guest speaker at the Parkinson's Support Group in Lincoln today.  I love public speaking and am honored whenever I am invited to give presentations for various support groups.  Now that I have been studying the brain and how to activate the brain for better balance, movement, vision and less pain, I have so much to share that I have to customize each presentation with the audience in mind.

I had prepared a Parkinson's-specific presentation for the Carmichael Parkinson's Support group earlier this year however that was one of my worst presentations ever.  I did not read the audience's needs and should have stopped talking 30 minutes earlier!  I feel I did better this time however the amount of information I have to share can be 'overwhelming' which is why I encourage private training sessions (repetition is king).

I've attended several Parkinsons Association of Northern California's (PANC) one-day trainings and with my brain-based training, I feel confident presenting to people living with Parkinsons Disease.

Today's audience was blown away with the vision drills.  As always, I had everyone do an assessment.  In this case, reach down to touch their toes (while seated.  Needless to say, over half the room needed longer arms to touch their toes during the initial assessment.

Then I showed everyone how to do pencil push-ups.  After the group did about 5 pencil push-ups, I had them reach down and touch their toes again.  All I heard was, "what in the world just happened", "how did she do that", "oh my gosh".... this is because almost everyone could reach their toes this time!

I laughed and said, "it's not magic, it's neuroscience"!  I kept talking about the power of vision and that it is the #1 input to the brain and if you train the four components of vision, your vision will get better.  Then I had them do another vision drill that targeted eye movement.

After doing a drill, I had them reach down and try to touch their toes again and once again, exclamations, laughter and smiles as the entire front row touched their toes.  These are people who haven't touched their toes in over 20 years and today, after two vision drills, they were able to touch their toes.

We did some exercises that activated basal ganglia and the frontal lobe and I had everyone stand up.  No stuttering, no hesitation, people stood up easier and without thought.  Big smiles.

If you are living with Parkinson's Disease and you know there's more than Rock Steady boxing, contact me!  I will come to your home for private sessions to discover what your brain needs for healthy movement.  I can't cure the disease but I can make living with it more tolerable.   I will give you tips and holistic options to make your life better.

info@thefallpreventionlady.com

Osteoarthritis Knee Pain Diminished after One Private Session

This year, I'm six years cancer-free.   It seems like a lifetime ago but thanks to the best oral cancer team in the country at UCDavis Cancer Center, I truly appreciate each day of my life without cancer.  Of my team members, the radiation nutritionist always made me laugh by keeping everything in perspective.  She was a beam of sunshine among rays of radiation.

Even though we're facebook friends, I was surprised when she contacted me about some balance training services.  In her early sixties,  she's active and looking forward to her upcoming retirement except for one problem:  she's been falling down.


The last fall was totally unexpected and her inability to react quickly enough due to severe knee pain scared her.  She's lost her confidence and feels like she's crawling through life guarded and scared.

She's an educated healthcare professional who knows there's more to life than living in fear (of falling) and in constant pain so she opened her mind and reached out to me.

After an extensive health history, we started some movement drills because movement makes her feel better!  Her number one complaint was knee pain.

We did some brain-based pain relief drills and she immediately felt 'lighter'.  Due to several falls from horseback riding, the nerves in her legs were entrapped.  Nerves that can't move can't transmit signals very well and shooting pain or muscle weakness results.  We did some neuromechanics to get those nerves moving.

Ninety-minutes later, she was walking better and was no longer focused on the knee pain but was thinking more about her walking gait.  She left with a list of exercises to do at home.

The next morning I received and email from her saying she was doing the drills as recommended and her knee pain was almost entirely gone!  She is hopeful about regaining control over her body and living her life without fear of falling.

If you're approaching retirement or are already enjoying your golden years and are living with chronic body pain, you need to contact me.  Pain is an output of the brain and with precise drills, we can send better signals TO the brain for better output (aka, no pain).

Holistic management of chronic pain.  No pills, just simple, subtle strategies to give your brain what it needs for pain-free movement.  I know this sounds "out there" but trust me, your doctor isn't going to give you these drills because they want to give you a knee replacement.

Stop the madness. Stop the pain.  Contact me today.  info@thefallpreventionlady.com

Legally blind student drops chronic pain with vision drills

One of my students in my Brains and Balance Training classes at Sun River Church is legally blind.  His macular degeneration is advanced and he can only see in the peripheral field.

On the first day of class, his pain level was a 10 which he attributed to chronic spinal stenosis.  As a Brain Practitioner, I was thinking otherwise.  His posture was stooped forward with a slight bend to the right.  His sense of equilibrium was off center which was evident in his posture.

I had him do specific eye drills to activate PAIN INHIBITION CENTERS in the brain.  His challenge was that he could not  actually see the pencil that I was asking him to follow with his eyes.  This is where brain science gets AWESOME.....

By ENVISIONING the pencil moving (eyes following pencil while in his hand), this gentleman who is illegally blind, activated the same neurons and neural pathways as if he could actually see the pencil.  Envisioning the target has the same powerful effect on brain activation as actually seeing it.

After two weeks, four sessions of brain-based training and lots of homework drills, this legally blind class participant's perceived level of pain is a 4 out of 10.  His eyes are moving 100% better and he's standing up straighter;  shoulders are level and his scoliosis is less pronounced.

You want to know what the best thing I've noticed?  His mood change!  Although he's not 100% pain-free, his mood is lighter, he's more engaged and exudes more confidence.  In fact, he got up and did the walking drills with the rest of the group!

WOW.  Just think about that....legally blind and living in a world of darkness and pain.  Through specific vision training drills and envisioning the target during precise vision training drills, this guy's pain has decreased significantly, his posture has improved dramatically and his mood is happy and hopeful.

What is going on?  Why are these changes happening?  Vision drills activate different parts of the brain; parts of the brain that are directly responsible for posture and pain.  Each eye has six muscles and those muscles are innervated by nerves that go directly into the brainstem.

The processing of all visual information (assigning meaning to visual data) activates all the lobes of the brain.  Vision is a brain-wide event.

And an activated brain is a happy brain because as you know, a healthy brain needs two things:
1.  Fuel  2.  Activation.

Is your vision getting worse each day?  Are you in chronic pain?  Do you feel unsteady and live in fear of falling?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are the perfect candidate for brain-based Balance Training with Coach Kelly.

Why Your Eye Doctor Doesn’t Give You Vision Training Drills

We are a vision-dependent society.  In other words, we heavily rely on input from our eyes to help us navigate through life.  This is because vision is the number one input to the brain.  Our brain relies on visual information to decide how to move and where to go.

Each eye sends over 1.2 billion bits of information per second to the brain.  That is an enormous amount of information per second, per eye, flooding the brain.  The brain has to decide which information is accurate in order to act quickly and appropriately.    Appropriately means safe.

Each eye has 6 muscles!

What's interesting is that vision is brain-wide event; it's not just the transmission of information on the optic nerve.  Vision includes the occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal lobes and there are four components of vision necessary for good "vision".

As Z-Health Neuro-Performance Specialist, I implement brain-based drills to train the four
components of vision.  What's awesome is that every brain is different and therefore, each brain needs different types of activation.  Through assessment and reassessment practices, you learn the types of vision drills your brain craves and responds well to.

What's fascinating is that vision is a skill and like all other skills, it will improve with practice however you must train all four components regularly if you want to improve your vision.  

Clients are blown away with instant results and often ask, "Why isn't my doctor telling me how to do this?

One simple answer:  the applied neurology training techniques I use are cutting edge, neuroscience-researched practices based on the science of neuroplasticity.  Neuropolasticity is the science of hope.  Medical doctors can't give you hope or they'll get sued if it doesn't work.

Eye doctors sell glasses, eye surgeries and medications.    Physical therapists sell costly treatments covered by insurance and are driving up the cost of Medicare for conventional approaches to movement.  

The medical community, doctors and physical therapists included, are going to have to go back to school to learn the applied functional neurology training techniques that I am teaching because more and more evidence proves new things about the brain and nervous system

Brain-based training is the future of fitness.  If you want to move better and see better, you have to train the systems involved, from the brain's perspective.   Find a trained neuro-performance specialist (Z-Health Trainers) and learn how to activate parts of your brain that need activation.

If you've tried everything and nothing has worked, it's time to try something different!!!!
Train your eyes for better vision.  Train your brain with better visual input.

Get those eyes moving!

Woodland Seniors Get Stronger, Quicker and More Flexible From Brains and Balance Training

I just completed a four-week Brains and Balance Training session at the Woodland Community Center and the fitness testing results are some of the best I've seen.  Every one of the 17 participants  improved in either lower body strength, lower body flexibility or dynamic balance and agility; some improved in all three components!  Way to go Woodland! 

As a certified FallProof™ Balance and Mobility Specialist, I perform pre- and post-assessments on all class participants to provide objective data about the effect of participation on their fall risk: I test three fitness components associated with fall risk on the first and last day of class.    

Here are some of the noteworthy improvements from this group of 17 seniors:

• 81-year old gentleman improved lower body flexibility by 4 inches in four weeks!
• 87-year old woman increased lower body strength by 3, lower body flexibility by 1.5 inches and increased her dynamic balance and agility by 1.4 seconds
• 85-year old woman increased lower body strength by 2, lower body flexibility by 3 inches and dynamic balance and agility by 1.1 seconds. 
• 77 year old woman increased lower body strength by 5, increased lower body flexibility by 2.7 inches and increased dynamic balance and agility by 1.4 seconds.  

That’s just objective data.  I don't measure posture, confidence or vision and I can say that every single person in the class improved in all of those areas, too.  

I'm super proud of everyone of everyone in the class and look forward to my next session of Brains and Balance Training at the Woodland Community Center beginning June 5.  

Save your spot and register today!

Brains and Balance Training with Coach Kelly

T/Th, 1-2:30pm

June 5-June 28

8 sessions for $125 

Woodland Community Center

You're worth the investment. 

  

Increase Flexibility, Improve Walking Gait and Prevent a Fall

Lower body flexibility is one of the fitness and fall risk markers that I assess in my Brains and Balance Training classes.  Following standardized senior fitness testing protocol, I test class participants on the first day and again on the last day to measure efficacy of training intervention on reduced fall risk.

I've been implementing Senior Fitness testing on every person in every class since 2006;  I have 12 years of data to demonstrate the effectiveness of consistent brains and balance mobility training.  I can honestly say that class participants have improved in AT LEAST ONE of the three senior fitness tests /fall risk assessments in my twelve years as a balance and mobility instructor.

The class works when you do the assigned homeplay exercises.  These do not take much time but they do take effort.  Why should you care about lower body flexibility?

• Lower body flexibility is necessary if you want to walk without tripping over your toes.  
• Lower body flexibility is necessary if you do not want to shuffle.  
• Lower body flexibility is necessary if you do want to relieve low back pain.  
• Lower body flexibility is kind of a big deal for independence.

Every once in awhile I have a class participant who improves exceedingly above the average.  In the latest class at Del Webb's Retreat in Roseville, I had three participants who improved so much in their lower body flexibility that I wanted to write about it.

The guy who improved the most in his lower body flexibility gained 4.5 inches in five weeks.  Let me explain; on day one, his reach was nearly five inches from his toes.  On the last day of class, he could touch his toes!  This gentleman is 76 years old.

Close behind him was the 90-year old female participant!  Although she was still three inches from reaching her toes, she gained THREE INCHES in lower body flexibility during the five week training.  As a result of improved lower body flexibility, she walks more steady and balanced.

In fact, during the first week of class she held onto her husband's arm when doing walking gait exercises.  Let's just say that quickly changed!  Now she's walking independently, more steady, with more confidence and an upright stance.  100% improvement in her walking gait.

The third participant who made huge improvements in his lower body flexibility was her 91-year old husband.  On day one, he was two inches from reaching his toes.  On the final day, he was touching his toes.  This guy not only improved in lower body flexibility but also lower body strength; he was able to do six more chair stands on the last day of class!

I am so proud of everyone in this session of Brains and Balance Training with Coach Kelly at The Retreat in Del Webb; especially the couple in their early nineties.   It's so awesome to see everyone improve; by the second week, postural improvements are evident  By the third week, personal awareness of changes in daily activities are reported.  The fourth and fifth week solidify these improvements within the nervous system and the entire body moves better.

Increased lower body flexibility and stronger leg muscles are fitness components that all older adults need if they want to avoid an accidental fall.  These two fitness measures are essential for a healthy walking gait and independent lifestyle.

Train the brain to improve movement.
Movement is life; it's time to start living.

The Fall Prevention Lady, aka Coach Kelly

Baby boom changing the face of fitness....

The face of balance and mobility training is getting younger.  As the baby boomer population explodes, so does the interest in different types of training classes; classes that:

• Focus on total body wellness
• Prepare the body for the next chapter of life
• Enhance performance so a person can live longer better
• Train the brain and utilize the scientific principle of "NEUROPLASTICITY"

I no longer hear, 'I wish I knew you fifteen years ago' but rather "I don't want to turn out like my mother.  She fell and that was the end of it", "My father fell, had all sorts of problems and had to move into assisted living; that is not the quality of life that I worked for".  "My wife and I have lots of traveling to do and we want to live our lives while we still can".

Baby boomers are more educated about the importance of fitness and truly understand that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  Most boomers are more educated about the different types of exercise needed in a well-balanced fitness routine and they understand that personal training is an investment in their life.  They realize that their health and well-being are THEIR responsibility and a person must get active if you want to stay active.

What everyone needs to understand is that exercise isn't so easy that you can't mess it!  If exercise were easy, everyone would be doing it.  Sitting, staring at a computer and driving for hours are what I call "occupational hazards" that take a tremendous toll on the body over the years.  The demand for corrective exercise practitioners has tripled and specialty areas are increasingly popular.
                 
Unfortunately, a staggering 80% of adults quit an exercise program in the first six weeks due to injury.  Enter your movement re-educator; me, the person who has studied fitness all her life and knows how to get you safely to your goals.  Enter the balance and mobility expert; me, the person who has the skills to improve balance and stability using brain-based balance techniques.  Enter the Z-health practitioner who has invested in a neurology-based education to teach you how to rewire your nervous system; upgrade your software.        

Baby boomers want brain-training.  As a Movement Integration Specialist, I offer the best brain training program available; 3 Pillars Strong; Move well.  Balance well.  See well.  I will be hosting two mixers in September to kick-off my new braining-training program with classes starting in October.

www.thefallpreventionlady.com

3 PILLARS STRONG= MOVE WELL + BALANCE WELL + SEE WELL

I am proud to announce "3 PILLARS STRONG"; a brains and balance program that I will be offering in the Sacramento region.    Program details:  12-week program.  60-minute class meets once a week for 12 weeks.  Class lecture is followed by brain-based movement routine.  Participants are assigned weekly movement routines to follow at home and record daily performances.

3 Pillars strong= move well + balance well + see well

3 Pillars strong means you are training all three of the of 3 Pillars of Performance: movement, balance and vision.  Movement is to be expected in a training program but where there is movement
training, intentional vision and balance training is necessary.

Movement is a skill.  Balance is a skill.  Vision is a skill.  Skills are trainable.  Skills can be taught.  Skills improve when practiced.

No two bodies are the same.  In consideration of the individuality of the aging process, you will assess and re-assess in your training session to see how YOUR BRAIN and YOUR BODY responds to each drill and activity.  Thus, your training will be personally tailored.

What can you expect from the 3 Pillars Strong program?
Changes and Results.  Those who complete the program experience increased level of skill and performance in all activities, feel more stable and balanced and have clearer vision and skill.

See well.  Balance well.  Move well.

$20/class for 12-weeks.  $360.
12-week program + 3 private training sessions: $597

KICKOFF CLASSES:  
October-December, 2017:
AM and PM classes

EMAIL TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT:
info@thefallpreventionlady.com

Call (916) 821-5715

Website:  The Fall Prevention Lady

Facebook:  The Fall Prevention Lady