High-level athletes need high-definition brain-body maps

Can we build resistance to injury or reduce the number of reps needed to learn skills by developing a better brain-body map? I believe the answer is yes!

As I share in the video below, our brain has multiple 3-D representations of our body: our organs, bones, joints, muscles, skin, EVERYTHING. Together, these maps help us prepare for and coordinate movement: Exactly where are my back, shoulders, elbows, forearms, wrists, etc. at any given moment? They also help keep us alive: Exactly where do I feel something hot/cold/sharp/creepy-crawly on my skin? (If you want to read further, look up homunculus.)

The key points: Our ability to move anything is in part affected by how well we can feel it; our ability to feel specific, exact positions depends on having robust brain-body maps.

Just like the map on your phone, the clearer it is, the better and faster signals it receives, the more efficiently and comfortably you’ll drive through a new neighborhood. If it’s not loading, or if parts are blurry, you might get lost, you might feel tense, you might be hesitant to move.

A blurry brain-body map will have the same effects on movement. Let’s say I’ve sprained my ankle 3 times; it’s very likely that I can’t feel it or move it with the same level of precision as an uninjured ankle. My brain’s map of it is blurry; my brain doesn’t trust it so I may have reduced range of motion, I may develop some unhelpful compensatory patterns, and I’m now more prone to injuring it again.

The drill: Sensory warm-up. One quick way to brush up the map is to do just that: body brushing (watch the video).

When to do it: Every practice should start with a sensory warm-up; brush specific body parts that need more activation during practice (e.g. your legs feel heavy); or specific body parts where you want to bring more awareness to correct a position or movement or where there’s been an injury. 

Remember: Our ability to move anything is in part affected by how well we can feel it.