The cerebellum plays a huge role in keeping us safe and restoring biomechanical integrity. The cerebellum is a comparometer, it compares incoming data, processes it, and discards incoherent or unmatchable data so we are left with reliable information for making (unconscious) decisions about movement.

Usually the cerebellum can manage the bumps and stumbles of daily life.  Often, when we can anticipate that a small accident is about to happen, the cerebellum can create a data file for that event, and hold the file open until the event is over. This event then gets processed as a whole and biomechanical integrity is restored. We all remember those moments when we are falling and time slows down. We fall, get up, and are amazed we are not injured.

But sometimes this subconscious biomechanical healing system fails.  When we are surprised by a bump or a fall, or the impact is severe, the cerebellum may not create a file for that event. The pieces of data are unorganized bytes, causing confusion in the brain-body system.  In ASM^® we call this confusion “biomechanical injury”.

When a biomechanical injury occurs, the brain-body system can remain in a chaotic state for several days while the system is reorganizing.   The system must reorganize the jumbled and incoherent data into a new pattern – but that new pattern is almost always less ergonomic and efficient.  We call this new pattern a “compensation strategy.”

A biomechanical injury can persist after the injury to the tissue (bone, ligament, etc.) has healed.  Nagging problems such as weakness, poor balance, decreased reaction time, or chronic pain are often signs of underlying biomechanical injury.