The Importance of Body-Based Interoception Supports for Concussion and Brain Injury Recovery

Hi everyone. Kelly Mahler, occupational therapist, and this month we're taking time to talk about the intersection between interoception and concussion and other traumatic brain injuries. Now, there is a lot of overlap in these topics, and I want to give you the top three reasons why we need to be talking more about the connection between interoception and brain injury, especially when we're talking about the healing process. Check out the full article here: kelly-mahler.com/resources/blog/interoception-concussion-and-traumatic-brain-injuries/
To learn more about Interoception, Concussion and Brain Injury check out our new online course: kelly-mahler.com/product/on-demand-course-interoception-concussion-brain-injury/
3 Reasons Interoception is Essential for Concussion and Brain Injury Healing
#1 Standard Concussion/Brain Injury Healing Guidelines are Based on Noticing Interoceptive Sensations
We know that the healing process from concussion, from brain injury, oftentimes requires a lot of reliance on body noticing. What do I mean by that? Many times, people who experience a brain injury are asked to report on their symptoms and how their body is feeling. That recovery process is highly dependent on their ability to notice their body sensations. That’s all about interoception, right?
For example, in phase one of concussion recovery, it’s all about resting and really monitoring your symptoms (hello interoception!). And as you can move into the next phase of recovery where you can start some light activity, it is usually “light activity as tolerated”. And what does that mean? It means listening to your body and stopping when you start to feel or notice certain sensations in your body and taking a rest (again heavy on the interoception side of things!).
Noticing how your body feels, stopping when your body is telling you to stop, taking a rest until your body feels better (that is so interoception heavy!). We need to consider if a person has the interoception capacity to reliably ‘listen to their body’ and promote the most optimal healing path.
#2 Rates of Alexithymia (aka Interoception Differences) are much Higher in Concussion and Brain Injury
We know that alexithymia rates are much higher in the brain injury population. So, if you have a brain injury, you have a higher chance of experiencing alexithymia.
Alexithymia refers to difficulty identifying and describing the way your body feels, difficulty identifying and describing your emotions. That’s all about interoception. Interoception is the scientific underlying reason why a person experiences alexithymia.
So, something is happening. Researchers don’t understand what is happening quite yet between when someone experiences a brain injury and it leading to higher rates of alexithymia. And there’s even research that’s suggesting that those alexithymia rates are tied to emotional regulation differences. And we talk a lot about that too. You have to be clearly aware of how you’re feeling in order to be able to regulate how you’re feeling effectively.
The brain injury process can lead to difficulty identifying and describing the way that you feel and also regulating those feels. Therefore, we need to nurture the foundation, which is interoception. Interoception-based work can help to enhance the clarity of our inner experience, on how we’re feeling, and on what our body needs to be bettered regulated.
#3 Brain Injury can be both a physical and psychological trauma: Interoception as an important aspect of healing from PTSD
The third reason is all about the emerging research suggesting that PTSD is highly associated with concussion and brain injury. People who have experienced brain injury have very high rates of PTSD, suggesting that a brain injury is not only a physical injury to the brain and the body, it also is a psychological injury.
Some research suggests rates of PTSD can very much depend on how a person may have gotten their brain injury. Maybe that event was a physical injury to their brain, but also it could have been a very big psychological injury or trauma, whether it may be, perhaps, a motor vehicle accident, or war/combat, or an athletic accident, or many other possibilities.
With these rates of PTSD, we know that interoception is affected in every single person who experiences trauma. That means we need to have more interoception-based considerations and supports in brain injury and concussion treatment processes. We need to incorporate and explore interoception with these clients, helping them to safely become reconnected to their bodies, to help them safely understand and trust their bodies again, so that they can regulate and have greater rates of positive mental health.
For more info, blogs, resources and on-demand courses, visit www.kelly-mahler.com
#interoception #concussion #braininjury

[@donaldagarland4194]

Thank you

[@donaldagarland4194]

I had a traumatic brain injury 23 years ago and I had a catastrophic brain injury that I am continuing to recover from to this day. For some reason, I developed a “superpower “in my body in a very active interception. …(at the same time, my proprioception was greatly injured.
My physiotherapist, osteopath chiropractor and massage therapist are all amazed at how aware I am of my internal organs. I can even described what area is injured or inflamed .. plus I can describe what it should feel like rather than the pain that I’m feeling upon their touch ..I even knew that my heart was off its axis. Presently I am struggling with an injury to my C3 and C4. As a prenatal educator I noticed that it is becoming a challenge to do diaphragmatic breathing…… which I have practised over the last 40 years. It feels like my diaphragm is struggling to activate and then to relax. I recently asked my medical professionals if that part of the spine could affect the diaphragm It turns out that the phrenic nerve passes through C3 C4 and C5. The phrenic nerve controls the diaphragm
I actually can feel that the diaphragm is not as mobile as it used to be and I can feel which side is more injured than the other. Have you ever heard of a person with a brain injury who gained this “superpower “

[@donaldagarland4194]

Since my accident, I have been able to feel the inner workings of my body to the point, it can become distracting
These are only a couple examples as I could mention many more….

[@KellyMahlerOT]

@@donaldagarland4194 You are not alone. There are definitely people that experience this "very active interoception”. It is a lesser talked about experience when compared to people that have a more muted inner experience. Some people report the intense inner experience from birth (or from the time they can remember) and some report that it started after some form of trauma. If you are seeking a connection with others that might share in this experience, please feel free to post in our Interoception FB Group (link). I think the community would love this discussion. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!

[@donaldagarland4194]

Thank you