• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Directory
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
The Brain Health Magazine
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Directory
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
The Brain Health Magazine
No Result
View All Result

Get Your Game Face On!

in Mental Health
November 15, 2020
0

by Sharik Peck, PT

In 2019 I found myself in Australia helping athletes from three nations compete in a large track meet. My daughter was competing in the sprinting events. Our conversations are not about winning or losing; we focus on finding joy in the experience and in doing the best we can. Finding joy in the journey has become a theme for our family and for my patients. 

Automobile collisions, concussions, head injuries, strokes, chronic pain, tumors, aneurysms —the list goes on and on, but one common theme I have seen in over 25 years as a physical therapist is how fast people can go from happy, healthy, vibrant, and strong to depressed, angry, sullen, irritated, listless, and sad.   

The study of the human nervous system and how it recovers from injury and illness has fascinated me. I wanted to know why we often saw two individuals come into the clinic with the same injury, the same forces, the same diagnosis, and seemingly the same accident, and yet never was the healing process the same. Provide the same treatment to both and one of the individuals was likely to get better and one of them was not. What made the difference?  Was it the way they were treated in therapy? Was it the way they lived at home?  What were their relationships with co-workers and family members?  Patterns emerged that helped me in practice and designing treatment approaches. I learned to tiptoe around conditions such as fibromyalgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and migraine headaches and accepted the fact that these conditions would likely slow down the healing process, but I did not understand why. 

One thing became clear in those “difficult” cases. There was a powerful emotional component involving the nervous system and affected the healing process that made very little sense to me. Watching my clients after injury, I felt like Spock on “Star Trek” trying to make sense of emotions I did not feel or understand and that did not seem logical. Well, I did what any reasonable person would do, I went back to school to obtain a master’s degree in counseling. I hoped to figure out how to help people through the psychology of an injury and help them learn how to recover better. 

Here is what I have learned from 26 years of practice and study, hoping to help people recover from illness and injury: 

  1. Emotions are electro-chemical equations in the nervous system. You can create happy chemicals by thinking of things that make you happy.  Perhaps this could account for some of the benefit many people have gained from watching Bob Ross teach important life philosophies while painting “a happy little cloud.” It calms the heart and puts a smile on the face. Those are healing chemicals! 
  2. If you look at the world through a negative lens, you will slow down the healing process. When all we can see is the past, thinking about how good life used to be, we find ourselves wallowing in a depressive state. 
  3. If you find something to be passionate about, you will speed up the healing process. Live in the present, right here, right now, and you will have less of the chemicals of anxiety flowing through your nervous system, elevating your blood pressure, and making it difficult to think. 

The balance needed in your nervous system to help you have the best potential to heal is controlled through the parasympathetic nervous system. That is the part of the nervous system dedicated to helping you recover from all of life’s challenges. Your parasympathetic nervous system encourages you to sleep, digest, breathe, and keep your heart beating at a healthy pace. If you actively engage the vagus nerve in the healing process, you will improve sleep, decrease inflammation, reduce pain, and generally feel better. How do you improve functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system? Here are a few ideas to keep you living in the present, free from unnecessary depression and anxiety: try yoga, get a massage, learn to breathe properly, hum, meditate, and keep a gratitude journal. A game face should not be an angry or scary face.  For best results, try keeping a smile on the inside and out!

Sharik is the CEO of Rezzimax, LLC., and a practicing physical therapist.  He suffered his first major TBI at the age of 17, suffering a sports-related hemmorhagic stroke. He later received a degree in physical therapy from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in counseling from Utah State University. He is passionate about pain relief and developing tools to improve how the nervous system works. Sharik and his family are involved in humanitarian work to relieve suffering. You can reach Sharik at sharik@rezzimax.com or www.rezzimax.com

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare Via EmailPinterest
Next Post

Christmas Spirit

SIGN UP

BLOG

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

by Amy Zellmer, Editor-in-chief What You Need: 2 lbs. (900g) chicken breasts 4 bell peppers, sliced 1 red onion, sliced 2 tbsp. honey 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 lime, juice 1 tbsp. chili powder 1 tbsp. cumin 1 tbsp. paprika 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 cup chopped tomatoes […]

Read more
From Calamitous to Cannabis

From Calamitous to Cannabis

By Ian Hebeisen Over her life, Nikki Lawley has sold H-Vac filtration systems, dealt cards at a casino, and started her own company, solidifying her as a true renaissance woman of the modern age. Most recently, she worked as a pediatric nurse in Buffalo – a career choice resulting in a TBI. One shift, a […]

Read more
The Curse and Blessing of Neuroplasticity After Concussion

The Curse and Blessing of Neuroplasticity After Concussion

By Jonathan Chung, DC Neuroplasticity is defined as the ability for neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. If you’ve been involved in the world of strokes and brain injuries long enough, you probably heard of neuroplasticity in the context of how it can provide hope for people to rehabilitate and […]

Read more
Busting the Neuromyth of Left-Brain Versus Right-Brain Dominance

Busting the Neuromyth of Left-Brain Versus Right-Brain Dominance

by Dr. Amy Moore I remember calling myself a “right-brained thinker” in college because I was creative, musical, highly emotional, and full of big-picture out-of-the-box-ideas. I struggled to relate to classmates who enjoyed math. They were polar opposite left-brainers who analyzed everything. Imagine my surprise in graduate school when I found myself truly enjoying my […]

Read more
Valor® Essential Oil

Valor® Essential Oil

By Amy Zellmer, Editor-in-chief Essential oils are a complementary tool that can help you achieve a healthy lifestyle. They are easy to use, smell great, and have a variety of uses. All oils are not created equal. Young Living is the only brand I personally trust because I know they have complete control over their […]

Read more
Caregiver Corner: Paying Attention to Tics and Triggers

Caregiver Corner: Paying Attention to Tics and Triggers

By Ian Hebeisen Over seven years ago, my mom received a traumatic brain injury from a car accident. As a result, she sustained nerve damage that often leads to painful contortions in her arms and legs. At first, we couldn’t tell what would set off her arm spasms, but as time went on, we began […]

Read more
Yoga: Bird Dog Pose

Yoga: Bird Dog Pose

by Amy Zellmer, Editor-in-chief Yoga is a powerful tool for recovery after brain injury. Contrary to some beliefs, everyone can do yoga — you don’t need to be super flexible, be able to balance, or even be able to stand up. The beauty of yoga is that every pose can be modified to accommodate anyone. […]

Read more
The Woman of Courage

The Woman of Courage

By Ellen Fortini Courtad There’s something surprising about Kathy Colace Laurinaitis that she doesn’t mind sharing. The managing partner of JBN & Associates recruiting firm. She is a self-proclaimed chicken. “People know me in business, so they think I have that no-fear personality,” she confides. “But I am such a chicken. I fear bugs. I […]

Read more
Looking Through Different Glasses Can Benefit Muddled CNS

Looking Through Different Glasses Can Benefit Muddled CNS

By Deborah Zelinsky, O.D. “Our entire biological system, the brain and the earth itself, work on the same frequencies,” said Nikola Tesla, the late 1800s/early 1900s inventor and electrical and mechanical engineer. But traumatic brain injury (TBI) – even a mild concussion – may knock the central nervous system (CNS) off that frequency, resulting in […]

Read more

INSTAGRAM

Follow Us!

  • Some of our book award goodies arrived today … the swag looks pretty good with this book 🥇 

#ConcussionDiscussions #author #publisher #writer #blogger #braininjury #tbi #concussion #pcs #anthology #FunctionalNeurology
  • I am thrilled to share that Concussion Discussions has won TWO book awards for excellence in publishing. A huge thanks to all of the contributors who helped make this book award-winning:
@steadmanshane 
@dr.perry.maynard 
@integratedbraincenters 
@dockeiser 
@portlandchiropracticneurology1 
@midcoastbrain 
@drszimmerman 
@neurowellnessdoc 
@learningrx_brain_training 
@healingresponse 
@dr.habanova 
@rezzimaxpaintuner 
@bagnell_brain_center 
@nurenbergparis 
@frameworktms 
@northwestfunctionalneuro 
@drerikreis 
@mindeyeinstitute 
@functionalhealthunlimited 
@michironeuro 
@deltasperformance
  • #kindness
  • Comment below!
  • #kindwords
  • Yoga or Pilates? Comment below!
  • #blazeyourownpath
  • Congrats to Jeffrey M Heller recently named the newest partner of @nurenbergparis
  • It’s officially March … and that means Brain Injury Awareness Month!! Join us on March 16th for a FREE virtual event with over 20 survivors and professionals sharing their experience. Register now for FREE! www.FACESOFTBI.com/event

© Copyright 2019 | The Brain Health Magazine

  • Advertise With Us
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Contact Us

DISCLAIMER: THIS MAGAZINE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE - View PDF

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Directory
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used.