Basic Training Series: Nervous System Principle #1: UBIQUITY

A PRINCIPLE is defined as "a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine or assumption." These principles are necessary to have a simple perspective of a very complex system. As I have started to learn more about the Nervous System, I have found that remembering these 8 Principles has made it easier to get through complexity to the simplicity of it all.

Let's continue.

Here we are at PRINCIPLE #1 of Ubiquity.

According to Jay Angevine, PhD in the Encyclopedia of the Human Brain:

"Ubiquity
With 100,000 miles of nerve fibers the nervous system rivals the vascular system. Both pervade the body and function in harmony. By nerve impulses or circulating red and white cells, glucose, hormones and immune principles, they integrate body activity, protect the body, enhance its performance to met stress or demand, promote its growth and nutrition, and maintain its tone and vigor. The trunk and branches of both systems reflect body form. If either system and no other part of a person were visible, he or she would be recognizable. Density of innervation varies as the value of parts to sensory discrimination or motor control. In well-innervated areas (lips, fingertips) stimuli are sharply discriminated as to modality, intensity, and location, but in sparsely innervated areas (flanks, legs) these are less defined. Similarly, muscles vary in the ratio of motor neurons to muscle fibres. The higher the ratio, the more precise the control of the muscle and the movement it serves (a motor neuron may excite 2000 muscle fibers in a limb muscle or as few as 5 in extrinsic ocular muscles)."

Here's what jumped out at me: 

1) There are A LOT of nerve fibers in the body. Literally everywhere so there must be something to it, and if we ignore it, we are ignoring a HUGE component of the body. 

2) The nerve fibers and the veins/arteries pervade the body and work to keep the body in function and harmony. 

3) The body will have more or less nerve fibers in a particular area based on sensory discrimination or motor control. 

4) In highly innervated areas, sensory input will be distingushed shaped by modality, location and intensity. 

5) In lesser innervated areas, the sensory input discrimination will be less.

6) For finer movements, the ratio of motor neurons to muscle fibre matters since a smaller innervation ratio will resort in more subtle control. For instance if there is a 1 motor neuron to 5 extrinsic ocular muscles, there will be more control. Large motor neuron to muscle fibre ratio, for instance in the thigh muscles (1:2000+), will be the opposite, as far as motor control goes.


So where does this leave us?

Honestly, that is a lot to take in and will greatly help understanding when we start getting into the nitty-gritty of sensory input and motor output in regards to movement (therapy and training/conditioning). Getting into which structures do this is important; however, going in with the principle that the nervous system ubiquitously manages input and output of the body is powerful.

Questions or comments? I'd love to hear from you.

In mind, body and spirit,

Will