What Happens When Your System Is In Overwhelm?
When I am working with a patient with the subtleties of muscle testing, I need to ensure that I can actually access the system. What this means on a practical level is can I get a proper feedback loop so that I know with confidence that the information I get from the body is correct?
Sometimes my patient is in a state of overwhelm. This can present as someone being ungrounded or emotionally stressed from just having driven through rush hour to get to the appointment. But it is often not obvious or conscious.
Regardless, if I cannot accerss their nervous system then it is like my being locked out of a computer system by a Fire Wall.
The "Security Software" Analogy
In P-DTR, when a patient has a raised threshold due to excessive pain or motor feedback, their brain is essentially in a "High Security" mode. This decreased neurologic inhibition and raised threshold is like a frozen computer. In this state, it isn’t possible for a practitioner to muscle test since the feedback loop is blocked.
The Raised Threshold
The Firewall
Because your body has been in pain for so long, your brain has turned up its 'security settings' to the maximum. It’s like a firewall that is so strict it starts blocking legitimate traffic. It requires a massive amount of 'evidence' (stimulus) before it will believe a movement is safe.
Decreased Inhibition
Background Scanning
Normally, your brain is great at 'inhibiting' or ignoring background noise—like the feeling of your clothes on your skin. But when inhibition is low, your brain loses its ability to filter. It’s like an antivirus program that is constantly scanning every single file on the computer at once. This uses up all your RAM (neurologic bandwidth).
The Result
The Crash
When we try to 'save' a new treatment change, your brain is already at 99% capacity just trying to manage that high security and background scanning. Adding even one more task causes the 'circle of death' (ie the dreaded Mac beachball) because the system simply can't process the new data while the firewall is so high.
Why the Treatment Won't "Hold"
The goal of P-DTR is to lower those security settings so the computer can run normally again.
- The Treatment: We are trying to tell your computer that the 'virus' (the old injury) is gone.
- The Setback: But if we ask you to do too much too soon, the system 'panics,' thinks it’s under attack again, and reverts to its last 'Safe Mode' save point—which was the old, painful way of moving.
How To Move Forward
Home Care
To keep your system from locking up, your "home care" should focus on low-volume, high-precision movements.The "Save" Rule: If you feel that "fuzzy" or "overwhelmed" brain feeling, you should stop immediately. Pushing through it is like clicking "Cancel" on the save bar.
Three Approaches
The Body, The Breath & The Mind
In my next blog I will present three approaches to help calm your mind and ground your body.
