Carrick Institute

July 21-23, 2023 | Orlando, FL
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Functional Neurology Management of Concussion Level 1
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15 Neurology Hours 

New Year - New Program Updates! Pain Reset 2.0 & Functional Neurology Essentials

Research

Relaxing our muscles requires more brain activity than we think.

Picture a novice athlete who is struggling to get a movement right. They are having difficulty contracting the muscle needed to perform the movement while also controlling and relaxing the inappropriate muscles. In frustration, their coach may yell to them “Just relax more!”, but in reality that concept is much more difficult than it sounds.Physical …

Relaxing our muscles requires more brain activity than we think. Read More »

New Research on Type 2 Diabetes from Prof. Carrick and Team

Hot off the press! Prof. Carrick and his team’s new article – Association between Knowledge, Awareness, and Practice of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes with Socio-economic Status, Adherence to Medication and Disease Complications – is now available.“Our results demonstrate that the intensive education service being given and time the physician spends with the T2DM patients …

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Sleep and Pain Perception

“Researchers found that poor sleep interferes with pain centers in the brain and can change how a person perceives and reacts to a noxious stimuli. The scans showed that when the group was sleep-deprived, they had a 120% increase in the activity of their somatosensory cortex, the brain region that interprets pain perception. This means …

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Neuroplasticity at a Cellular Level

🧠 Neuroplasticity at a Cellular Level   Long term potentiation is the process of strengthening synapses based on patterns of activity or stimulation to the neuron. This process is believed to provide the foundation for a highly adaptable nervous system. Long term potentiation can be elicited by activating NMDA-type glutamate receptors, typically through the activity …

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How does our breathing affect our nervous system?

How does our breathing affect our nervous system? 🧠 When we hyperventilate, we decrease the amount of free calcium in the blood. This causes sodium channels on neurons to become unstable, and sodium begins to come into the cell, raising the resting membrane threshold and making the cell more easily excitable. So why does this matter …

How does our breathing affect our nervous system? Read More »

How do we Know Where are in Space?

How do we know where are we in space? Our ability to sense not only where our own body is, but the space around our bodies is accomplished through multiple networks working and communicating together. Holmes NP, Spence C. The body schema and the multisensory representation(s) of peripersonal space. Cogn Process. 2004;5(2):94–105. doi:10.1007/s10339-004-0013-3

What Happens to the Body During Stress?

What happens to our body during stress? 🙇🏻‍♀️ A hallmark feature of stress consists of activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that is initiated when visceromotor neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVH) stimulate the release of pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormones (ACTH) into the bloodstream, which in turn, activates glucocorticoid secretion from the adrenal gland. These …

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New Paper Published by Prof. Carrick and Team: “Prevalence of Undiagnosed Depression in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes”

Congratulations to Prof Carrick and his research team for their latest publication “Prevalence of Undiagnosed Depression in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes”, published in Frontiers in Endocrinology (high impact 3.510). The researchers conducted the study in the United Arab Emirates because it is an area of the world with one of the highest prevalences of …

New Paper Published by Prof. Carrick and Team: “Prevalence of Undiagnosed Depression in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes” Read More »

Mitochondria as the link between intelligence, health and aging?

Mitochondria as the link between intelligence, health and aging? 🧠🦠 Mitochondria are the “powerhouse” of the cell, responsible for producing energy for the cell, among other functions. ⚡️ Energy availability, in turn, is the lowest common denominator needed for the development, maintenance, and optimal functioning of all biological systems. This study aims to review the relationship between intelligence, …

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Virtual Reality for Stress Reduction

Stress Awareness Tip: Virtual Reality has been used effectively to promote relaxation and reduce stress. Virtual Reality works by changing the sensory input that our brain receives, changing our brain’s interpretation of our current reality. There are currently three approaches to virtual reality that aim to achieving relaxation, stress reduction and emotion regulation. 1️⃣ Relaxing VR: …

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Using Heart Rate to Predict Errors in Expert Pianist

A new twist to the saying ‘playing from the heart.’ 🎶 – – Researchers found an increase in heart rate before an error in playing occurs in expert pianist. 🎹 This change in heart rate sends crucial signals to the brain to perceive error before we are even consciously aware of it! This information from the heart helps …

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Can we use heart rate variability (HRV) as a tool to measure stress levels?

Stress Tip: Can we use heart rate variability (HRV) as a tool to measure stress levels? The oscillations of our heart are complex and are constantly changing in response to our environment. This allows for the cardiovascular system to rapidly adjust to sudden physical and psychological challenges and maintain homeostasis. Think about a time when …

Can we use heart rate variability (HRV) as a tool to measure stress levels? Read More »

Receive. Interpret. Respond: The Functional Neurology Paradigm

Receive. Interpret. Respond. It’s one of the key concepts within the functional neurology paradigm. A sensory stimulus is sent to the brain for processing, which then creates a motor output. Because of this intimidate brain-body connection, our programs have a heavy focus on using sensory modalities to modulate brain function and create a new, desired …

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Changes in Brain Plasticity after Amputation

💡Carrick Insight: How does brain plasticity affect amputees? 🧠 Researchers looked at the functional connectivity of those who had experienced phantom limb pain, or the sensation that the amputated limb was still there. They found two major changes: 1️⃣ A decrease in the functional connectivity between homologous sensory and motor cortical regions via the Corpus …

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Could Vitamin D Deficiency Lead to Decreases in Brain Plasticity?

🧠 Carrick Insight: Could vitamin D deficiency lead to decreases in brain plasticity?   Researchers discovered that vitamin D levels had an effect on the perineuronal nets located in the hippocampus, suggesting a link between vitamin D deficiency and cognition. 🤔   Perineuronal nets are like a strong mesh that surrounds the neurons and stabilizes …

Could Vitamin D Deficiency Lead to Decreases in Brain Plasticity? Read More »

Chronic Inflammation may Lead to Future Thinking and Memory Problems in Middle-Aged Adults

🧠 Carrick Insight: Chronic inflammation may lead to future thinking and memory problems in middle-aged adults. 🤔   A study looked at biomarkers for inflammation in 12,336 individuals with an average age of 57 for 20 years. 🧪Along with this testing, participants thinking and memory skills were assessed at the beginning of the study, 6-9 …

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Researchers have Revealed that the Somatosensory Cortex, an Area Responsible for Basic Sensory Processing, also Plays an Important Role in Memory and Reward Learning.

🧠 Carrick Insight: Researchers have revealed that the somatosensory cortex, an area responsible for basic sensory processing, also plays an important role in memory and reward learning.   Reward learning is a type of learning where the brain associates an action with a pleasurable outcome. This could be from associating that next bonus with working …

Researchers have Revealed that the Somatosensory Cortex, an Area Responsible for Basic Sensory Processing, also Plays an Important Role in Memory and Reward Learning. Read More »

The Connection Between our Gut and our Brain

Is there a chance that what is in our gut may change what is in our brain?! 🦠🧠   A study looked at the connection between gut bacteria and depression and named the probable culprits for these mental issues. 🙇‍♀️ The researchers analyzed fecal microbiome in conjunction with diagnoses of depression in 1,054 people. They …

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Can a Head Tilt Increase Engagement in Patients with ASD?

Researchers suggest that a simple head tilt when working with patients with ASD could increase social engagement and focus, making the doctor or others seem less threatening and more approachable. Many studies have demonstrated that when observing faces, there is a consistent bias for right-handed observers to look towards the left side of the face …

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New Research – Head–Eye Vestibular Motion Therapy Affects the Mental and Physical Health of Severe Chronic Post-concussion Patients

[su_button url=”https://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2017.00414/full” target=”blank” background=”#753F7F” color=”#f8f4f2″ size=”5″ center=”yes” icon=”icon: cloud-download” desc=”Download the Paper Here”][/su_button] [su_audio url=”https://s3.amazonaws.com/carrickpodcasts/HEVM+Therapy+with+FRC+Podcast.mp3″] Thank you so very much for asking me to talk about our newly published paper in Frontiers Neurology; it’s in the Neurotrauma section. That journal has an impact factor of 3.552 and are really over the moon happy about that. …

New Research – Head–Eye Vestibular Motion Therapy Affects the Mental and Physical Health of Severe Chronic Post-concussion Patients Read More »

New Research: Randomized Control Study of a Remote Flipped Classroom

[su_button url=”https://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2017.00349/full” target=”blank” background=”#753F7F” color=”#f8f4f2″ size=”5″ center=”yes” icon=”icon: cloud-download” desc=”Download the Paper Here”][/su_button] [su_audio url=”https://s3.amazonaws.com/carrickpodcasts/Randomized+Controlled+Study+of+a+Remote+Flipped+Classroom.mp3″]   We are just over the moon excited about our new study that was published in Frontier Neurology, in the Neurology Education section.  Frontier Neurology is a great journal that has an impact fact by 3.552 and is the second most …

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Medline Journal Access

We are very excited because every day we get calls from our scholars thanking us for being able to provide them to journal articles at the snap of their fingers. It is very important for clinicians to have quick access to journal articles and papers that are contemporary, that they can get without paying the …

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