Functional Neurology

Your Brain is The Commander in Chief

Everything that happens in your body is controlled by your brain. Your heartbeat, breathing, digestion, absorption of nutrients, ability to see, taste, smell, hear and feel, your mental clarity, memory, balance and emotional stability are all directly correlated with proper brain function and communication. Improve the function of your brain and you will improve function throughout your entire body.

Normal functioning of the body can only result if the communication between the brain cells (neurons) themselves and with other parts of the body are firing or communicating at an appropriate pace and power.

Functional Neurology as a healthcare discipline is a relatively new concept. Over more recent times, there has been a growing interest and application in the areas of improving brain performance through the principle of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity essentially means that your brain and nervous system can be made to work more efficiently and even regenerate. Thus, the primary goal of utilizing functional neurology with our patients is to apply this principle for the sake of optimizing our patient’s brains and lives.

Testing

During the Initial Consultation, Dr. Siegel will determine who he feels would benefit from being evaluated neurologically. If one qualifies for such an exam, he will look at their brain from a “hemispheric” perspective, that is, how the left hemisphere (left side) of the brain is working in relation to the right hemisphere (right side) of the brain. In doing so, he can reveal which parts of your brain (cerebellum, brain stem and/or cortex) are not communicating properly. Dr. Siegel may also perform what’s called an HRV (Heart Rate Variability) test to look for imbalances between the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic parts of your Autonomic Nervous system. This test demonstrates what the impact of stress is having on the brain and nervous system.

Treatment

Based on examination findings, recommended therapies can then be utilized to help improve the areas of weak brain communication.