Cheers to you! And, cheers to your cerebellum!
From my neurology notebook in grad school, when doodles of flowers progressed to complex circuitry of the brain.
Did you know that “cerebellum” means “little brain?” It’s small compared to the rest of the brain it sits behind, but it plays a large role in everything you do. You can live without it, but you’d really miss it. If you didn’t already know, I’m a big nerd. I really do appreciate this complicated cluster of neurons, and for good reason!
Our office lunch time pong game took several tries before we were able to land a ball in Evan’s hat. The cerebellum, at its finest!
One of the major functions of the cerebellum is motor learning through trial and error. Thinking back to riding a bike last week… my cerebellum stored the motor pattern so I could balance, pedal, and steer myself, but it wasn’t “like riding a bike” for me, as you might recall. And, while my cerebellum was active in recognizing and adapting to my errors, it also played a huge factor in my balance and coordination. Without the cerebellum, riding a bike would simply be impossible!
Want to know what life is like without a fully functioning cerebellum? Think back to a night when you had “1 too many” and recall how you were walking. Cerebellar dysfunction leads to poor balance, uncoordinated movements, slowed reaction times, and delayed motor learning. Another way to think about it… if it normally takes you 10 attempts to hit a bulls-eye with a dart, a dysfunctional cerebellum may require 100 attempts to achieve the same task. You might still achieve the task, but without that beautiful hunk of gray matter, it would be much more challenging.
As if that wasn’t enough, the cerebellum also plays a role in cognitive function, including developing deep and complex relationships. Researchers are not entirely certain what the cerebellum has to do with this function, but we’re pretty certain that without a well-functioning one, your love for your Redpoint therapists would be significantly impacted.
It actually doesn’t matter how well your cerebellum is functioning at Redpoint… we’re pretty patient, and also fairly stubborn (and we know you love us, regardless). Whether it drives you crazy or not, that wonderful part of your brain is going to help us improve your posture, engage the muscles you forgot existed (if you’ve seen us for shoulder injuries, you know what we’re talking about!), and it really comes in handy when we’re fine-tuning your running gait mechanics, which is a hot topic in our office of late. When you’re working in our office, you’ll notice we’re very particular about form. When you perform a movement, we provide you with feedback and you adapt the movement (or, we harass you until you do something differently!). Thank you, cerebellum!
Work aside, the next two weeks will be a whirlwind of holiday celebrations, stress, fun, family, rest, exhaustion, fatigue, swear words, hugs, tears, food, drinks, laughs, movies, memories, traveling, and hopefully sleep. Redpoint staff will be observing several days over the next two weeks to enjoy/endure some or all of the aforementioned, and we thank you for your patience as you try to fit into our tight schedule for the rest of the year.
From the Redpoint Staff, cheers to you! Happy holidays! Thanks for your support, hard work, and for choosing us as part of your health care team. Without you, our jobs would be a lot more boring!
And, of course, Cheers to your cerebellum for all of its hard work. <3