Losing a hand? It's okay, because your brain will quickly train the other body to do the job

The brain is more agile and flexible than we think.

A recently published study has completely changed the perception of the medical community, but more specifically how the brain controls the body. Previously, it was thought that the specific activities of hands or feet, due to a fixed area on the brain governed. But this study shows that when a part of the body is disabled, the compensatory movement of another part (for example, the left hand writes instead of the right hand, or the mouth holding the object in place of the right hand) activates the brain part. dominate that disabled area. This is a breakthrough change, when moving from a specific anatomical conception to functional specificity.

'I was surprised to see that we have been wrong for so long,' said Tamar Makin, a neurologist at the University of London, UK. 'If these analyzes are correct, then their applications are extremely wide.'

The study was designed with two groups: the research team consisted of 17 congenital volunteers with only 1 hand, and 24 people with both hands were used as a control group. The subjects were asked to conduct 5 common operations in daily activities, simultaneously, fMRI images (magnetic resonance imaging) were recorded.

"We found that the area of ​​the brain that is responsible for the lost hand is activated when it is active in many other parts of those who are born with only one hand ," Makin said. 'Active body areas compensate for increased deficits in active areas to increase flexibility for routine activities'.

This is what happened to Zion Li Aguila Velez, a 6-year-old boy who lost both arms. He had to use his legs instead of both hands in all his daily activities. Alexandria Aguila Velez, his adoptive mother, said when she tried to use two prosthetic hands to help the boy, he could not do anything.'We tried very hard, but he cried and just wanted to do everything with two legs. Finally, I had to remove the two fake hands and follow the boy's wishes , " said Albanian.

What's interesting is that Zion's brain is more responsive to disability. James Giordano, a professor of neurology at Georgetown University explains: ' The brain gets information from body parts. When tasked with completing a certain task, the brain will try to complete it with what you have. No hands - it's okay, because your brain will quickly train your feet to do that. '

Unlike an innate case, if an accident robs you of a leg or hand, things will become very difficult. That's when the brain has to reset almost all of the neurotransmitters that dominate the movement of that part of the limb, which are already the pathways that print deeply. Methods of rehabilitation, but also advanced technologies such as transcranial electric stimulation, or magnetic stimulation can help accelerate this process.

Professor Giordano also added: 'I think this research has shed some light on the question that has been a long time: The brain has the ability to restructure itself. In this study, it is possible to see that the motor and sensory function has been completely reoriented, and through it, asserts that the brain is much more flexible than we thought. '