Alternative Therapy Uses Light To Help Retrain Brains

Loading... 

Denver Channel
Posted : Apr 17, 2007

DENVER -- We hear a lot these days about alternative treatments for almost anything that ails you.

One local doctor is using unique therapies to help people with a variety of problems, from learning disabilities to Alzheimer's disease, stress and much more.

The treatments look a little bizarre. In one exercise, patients sit in front of a computer wearing electrodes on their heads and what look like funny sunglasses with flashing lights on the inside of them.

Stephen Roth, 15, has been undergoing the treatment for a few months now and said it has changed his life for the better.

"It's almost like watching him be healed," said Stephen's mother, Barb Roth.

Stephen has a genetic brain disorder called neurofibromatosis. It affects the neuron activity in his brain. The disorder has made learning a big challenge and affected his behavior.

The teen admits that before this, he was "extremely hyper and bouncing off the walls."

The therapies are called neuron-integration and neuron-motion. Pristine Health in Greenwood Village is one of a handful of facilities around the nation that have the equipment with this technology.

Essentially, these exercises retrain the brain to work better by adjusting the brain wave activity.

"The brain is actually getting quite a workout," said Dr. Diana Alba.

Alba is a naturopathic doctor who started Pristine Health to help people deal with illnesses in a natural way without prescription drugs.

She explained that different regions of our brains produce different brain wave activity. If that is out of sync or "off" in any way, it can lead to a variety of problems.

"Take, for example, if we produce excessive amounts of beta (waves) in the front of the brain -- we're going to have symptoms of ADD. If we produce too much theta (waves) on the top of the brain, we're going to have anxiety."

Neuro-integration therapy uses a special computer system to adjust brain wave activity. It's all hooked up to a computer that reads his brain wave activity.

A patient watches a movie on the screen. When the computer notices brain wave activity is off in any particular region, it forces the movie to stop playing. The lights on the glasses flicker and trigger the brain to get back on track.

"So where it may have had difficulty before, it relearns how to do it properly, just like riding a bike. Once the brain relearns it, it knows it," Alba explains.

Stephen and his mom tried all kinds of therapy to help him. After 2½ months of this work, his behavior has improved and he enjoys school.

"He's calmer. His ability to understand his math has really gone up," his mother said.

"I used to be nervous when I went to ask teachers questions and now it's easier," Stephen said.

Other patients are finding similar success with these therapies. Three years ago Marnie Ohlfs was in a bad car accident that left her in a wheelchair. Doctors said she'd never walk again.

"There was pretty much no hope," Ohlfs said.

After years of physical therapy, Ohlfs wasn't making much progress. But this mother of two young children refused to give up. When doctors determined she had a traumatic brain injury, the focus shifted from just working her muscles to also working her brain with neuro-integration and neuro-motion.

As part of neuron-motion therapy, a patient lies on a special bed that moves up and down and turns around. Again, the patient wears those funny looking, flashing sunglasses and headphones that play more than 70 layers of unique sounds. The brain has to work really hard to interpret all that's going on.

Alba explained that neuron-motion "levels the playing field. It actually adds oxygen to the red blood cells and it wakes up the entire brain simultaneously."

The exercise helps restore balance, muscle movement and tames over-reactive senses. It has helped Ohlfs in a lot of ways, she said.

She said it has dramatically reduced twitching in her legs.

"I can stand. I've been able to take some steps. I'm pretty excited," she said.

Ohlfs knows she still has a long way to go, but like Stephen, she has newfound hope.

"I feel happier, not as depressed as I was. I can kind of see a light at the end of the tunnel rather than complete darkness," Ohlfs said, with a smile on her face.

Neuro-motion and neuro-integration are helping people with Alzheimer's disease, chief executive officers who need a little destressing and athletes whose performance is off.

Pristine Health, in Greenwood Village, is one of a handful of facilities in the nation that use these kinds of therapies.