Artzt Neuro

What is neuro-athletic training?

Neuro-athletic training combines the study of neurology with athletics training. The brain is responsible for managing vital bodily functions: respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, movement and emotions – all controlled by our head. The neuro-athletic training tools from Artzt Neuro are designed around training the brain in conjunction with the rest of the body to achieve the goal of boosting athletic performance and /or improving outcomes in therapy. There are many exercises designed to target certain areas of the nervous system which can easily be incorporated in our everyday lives, and they can be organised under three categories: the visual system (seeing), the vestibular system (balance) and the proprioceptive system (awareness of the body’s position and movements). The more distinct the information received by the brain in these areas, the better our brains can learn to process and react to it with precise movements and higher athletic performance.

How does neuro-athletic training work?

Neuro-athletic training is about improving the three areas mentioned above to strengthen the connections between the mind and body. Targeted neuro-athletic training can be used to optimise movement patterns and reaction times and improve coordination. Most information that reaches our mind is received by our eyes. It is therefore ver important to regularly train our occular systems to maintain good communication between the brain and our eyes. When starting out, it can be sufficient to train up to 10 minutes a day with adequate rest periods in between. Closely related with our visual system is our sense of balance or equilibrioception. It keeps us upright and helps us orientate our body with respect to our surroundings. With targeted exercises, we can improve our balance and spacial awareness. The proprioceptive system, that is the perception of movement, is decisive for coordination, bodily awareness and the angle of our limbs and joints. Neuro-athletic exercises in these areas trains our muscles and tendons to bend at our joints to perform precise motions and prevent injuries.

What exercises are there?

There are a number of neuro-athletic exercises which can yield positive results with regular training. We will introduce a few of them below which you can incorporate into your everyday life.

Training with pinhole raster glasses:

Wear the raster glasses for approximately 10 minutes at work on your computer, while watching television, reading, or cleaning. The glasses reduce the amount of light reaching your eyes, helping them to relax. Simultaneously, your eye movements need to adjust precisely, allowing you to train your eye muscles and for visual clarity.

Training with coloured glasses:

Colours have different effects on our psyche and body. Wearing coloured glasses during everyday activities or in sports can highten (yellow), neutralise (green) or relax (blue) concentration. Beneficial wear times vary by colour, and effects can be highly individual between wearers.

Training with a vision stick:

Hold a vision stick in front of your face with an outstretched arm and focus your eyes on a point on the stick. Move your head in various directions, from left to right a few times for example, then up and down without breaking focus on the point.

Training with a balance trainer:

Stand on a balance trainer with both feet and hold your arms out to your sides. Slowly lower yourself into a squat and concentrate on maintaining a steady balance. Stand up slowly until your legs are straight, the repeat the movement a few times.