Page 23 - Panama City Living Magazine

BOOK REVIEW
THE BRAIN’S WAY OF HEALING
Stories of Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity
BY NORMAN DOIDGE, MD
Reviewed by Julie K. Hilton
Julie K. Hilton is a lawyer, mediator, hotelier, businessperson, Feldenkrais practitioner, and private pilot. She enjoys meditation, yoga, walking, swimming, and kayaking. Julie is married and continues to learn through the eyes of her 13-year- old daughter. Her areas of interest include integrative medicine and education, and she loves books on innovative ways to improve our health, learning, and problem-solving for the future.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FENDER
Imagine a world where chronic pain is curable, recovery from neurological diseases is commonplace, and learning disabilities are eliminated. “The Brain’s Way of Healing” (2015, 2016) by Dr. Norman Doidge, MD, a sequel to his first book, “The Brain That Changes Itself” (2007), explains the science of neuroplasticity and gives remarkable accounts of how it can transform our world.
For centuries it was thought that the brain, like an engineered machine performing repetitive actions, had limited capacity to improve. Doidge, a research psychiatrist, explains recent discoveries and details case studies by medical researchers, clinicians, and patients who have demonstrated in the last half-century that the brain is plastic and capable of change. They creatively used diverse neuroplastic methods to improve, heal, and cure devastating diseases and injuries once thought to be a death knell.
Riveting reports of doctors Michael Moskowitz and Marla Golden curing persistent, chronic pain by using non-invasive competitive plasticity and hands-on bodywork open the door to the elimination of the devastating opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, John Pepper reversed his Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms for over four decades with an exercise program using a specific kind of concentration that makes this neurodegenerative disease more manageable.
Vascular surgeon Fred Kahn’s neuroplastic light therapy using low-intensity lasers brings renewed health within reach to those suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI), side effects of brain surgery, stroke, depression, and a myriad of other maladies.
Physicist and judo master Moshe Feldenkrais created a kinesthetic awareness learning method. He taught stroke patients to read, write, and live independently, babies born with cerebral palsy to walk and speak, and profoundly disabled children missing major brain parts to develop as highly functioning adults. And a blind man used the Feldenkrais Method to learn to see.
The PoNS, a tactile stimulation device fitting under the tongue, eliminated multiple sclerosis, stroke, and PD symptoms, dramatically improved TBI and functioning with missing brain parts, and opens incredible new healing frontiers.
Sound therapy to remedy learning and sensory processing disorders, autism, and attention deficits, pioneered by Dr. Alfred Tomatis and developed further by Dr. Ron Minson, founder of Integrated Learning Systems (iLs), has brought groundbreaking learning discoveries. Neurofeedback brain exercises and two programs in Doidge’s first book, “Fast ForWord” computer games, and the Arrowsmith School give promise for improved education for all.
I first discovered Doidge’s book as I was researching stroke recovery information for my brother-in-law. I found it inspiring and encouraging. Hopefully it will help many others improve their health and learning.
www.PanamaCityLiving.com • March—April 2020 • 23