Youtube Anat Baniel if you can, and pinpoint her ideas and programs about movement. The first of her 9 points and foremost is about “attention in slow movements”. She works with small children and adults. She also emphasizes variation rather than repetition. We all know about organizations that tout constant repetition of a movement over and over again. She is not on board with that .
It seems the brain needs ; variation attention, and slow movement.
Although moving a limb over and over during an exercise may help the muscle, the brain may be ignoring important pathways.
So…two schools of thought here.
Perhaps a marriage of the two? …Comments?
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I think a mix of variation & repetition is probably needed. Not that I’m an expert…it’s just what I did.
As for speed…my brain only works on slow these days. 
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My best results in the last three months come from stretches performed maybe only three or four times a day for less than five minutes each time.
This activity is not deliberate exercise just a part of moving about.
It has resulted in definite and significant ‘waking up’ in shoulders, arms and to a lesser degree hands.
Of course all this is relative, some can achieve little and others far more, but as someone who had little improvement in hospital or in the months after, I am pleased to discover mobility can improve and ability as a whole continues to repair and recover a couple of years later.
I can now lift arm and hand unaided onto the table, lift an object using two hands, engage the brake on the wheel chair on my ‘weak’ side. These are real achievement that encourage me to believe I have far to go yet. I am optimistic about my future.
Of course I am an awkward so and so who is determined to do it my own way.
There are probably very many ways, better than anything I can dream of, for coping with this experience.
keep on keepin’ on
It has just occurred to me that useful hand movement is of limited use if the arms aren’t doing their bit.
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Yes the brain will discount repetitive movement that is not accompanied by a thought and variation
The muscles are a different matter. And there are neurones in the muscles / the peripheral nervous system
Make it stick by Roediger et al explores the topic although not from the perspective of a stroke and neuroplasticity but from the perspective of general learning
Ciao
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Since it’s mind over matter, I’m in the camp that advocates a little variation each revisit. Image how many things we can vary… the tempo or speed of the movement, the amplitude, and the muscle tone… lightly, or heavily… or that last variable could be weight. It’s also possible to vary gravity; our inclination to the ground, so gravity acts along a slight different axis. This variation keeps us thinking. It stimulates the brain; think about, when we change the axis of gravity, how we listen to a different feel in our weight. Slowing things down is like using a magnifying glass to peer at small details. I believe mindless repetition is just perfecting our defects, not working on them. The only thing which should be a little carefree, without too much thought are the finishing stages, when we want to be able to do our movement automatically, or as I call it on autopilot. This is to show off our fluency and capability. But while practicing it’s thinking caps on, all the way.
If you think about practicing your Piano; or my violin we’ll understand it’s not very different. Think of going over a passage to fix it; you may play it softly, slowly, alter the tone etc. Each variation will stimulate our brain, and our connection between mind and muscle. The mechanics are the same.
Good luck, Roland
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I sort of agree, no I fully agree, but your analysis is not complete so my full agreement is only partial
For the brain to mark something as. “needs to be worked on by the subconscious and moved into preserved capability” it needs to be part of a richer end game.
The analogy might be that you need a bit of jazz and a bit of rock and a bit of classical.
Sleep serves many purposes. One of which is reviewing what is clutter and deleting it. Look up Ebbinghaus effect or more relevant strategies for defeating the ebbinghaus effect by avoiding repetition that is nougatry.
2¢
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Yes Simon,
Couldn’t agree more; sleeping on it, or the interval between practice sessions is when new capability sinks in. Then another revisit cycle, more sinking in and so on.
ciao, Roland
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@Bobbi Yes sometimes the things we do in our own way…things that feel right; are best. Glad you are making progress Bobbi.
@SimonInEdinburgh
@pando
@Mrs5K
Agree with you all and remember what my favorite physical therapist kept reminding me…“when you move that hand; LOOK at it” “keep your eyes on it”. The visual goes hand-in-hand with the feeling part of your moves". Also helps those with problem proprioception. Anat Baniel says that to walk better we should feel every part of our body while walking very slowly and be aware of every step and what it feels like in the back, the neck, the arms as well as the legs. The brain then takes notice.
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Excellent insight, and good explanation, Derek
Thx, Roland
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