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Understand how the nervous system works, how it can be read from the outside, and what makes a piece of clinical work functional neurology.
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Course Description
You cannot be good at something you do not understand. Most clinicians who struggle with complex neurological cases are not short of techniques. They are short of a working model of the system those techniques act on, so their reasoning becomes a matter of matching a therapy to a symptom.
This course builds that model from the ground up. It opens with a sealed box that you have to work out without opening, because that is the position every clinician is in with every patient: the nervous system cannot be opened, and everything known about it comes from what goes in and what comes back. From there the course teaches the simple version first (input, integration, output, and the output returning as the next input), then the history of how that model was worked out, and then the detail behind it: the neuron, every class of receptor, the five functional nodes of the network, the effectors, and how behavior closes the loop and remodels the system. You leave able to observe properly, reason about which part of the network is driving what you see, write a prediction before you act, and revise when the prediction fails.
What you’ll learn:
- Explain the nervous system as one loop of input, integration and output, and read it from the outside
- State the seven elements that define functional neurology, and the three that gate it: infer, predict, revise
- Trace the history of functional neurology from its forerunners to the present, and who contributed what
- Describe the physiology of every receptor class, from the senses that cannot be declined to those that can
- Place examination findings into the five functional nodes and tell the node that shows a problem from the node that drives it
More About This Course
Functional neurology is often described by its techniques. This course describes it by its reasoning. A clinical encounter is functional neurology when an output is observed, the pattern across several domains is read, a part of the network is named as driving it, an input is chosen for its route and dose with the expected change stated beforehand, and the result is measured and the idea revised when it misses. None of those steps is unique to this field. Holding all of them together, and applying them to how a network functions and not to its structure, is what sets it apart from choosing a therapy to match a complaint.
The course begins by making that concrete. Before any lecture, the room is handed sealed boxes and asked to find out what is inside. How you probe decides what you learn and what you break, and being sure turns out to be different from being right. The simple model follows: why we have a brain, what creates muscle tone when you work backward from the muscle, and the same loop drawn three ways (healthy, with a distorted signal coming in, and with a distorted signal going out).
Then the history, told as the answer to an obvious question: if the model is that simple, why did it take two thousand years? It runs in eight epochs, from Galen cutting a nerve and reasoning back to what it did, through Bell and Magendie, Müller, Hughlings Jackson, Sherrington and Monakow, to Dr. Carrick's synthesis in 1979 and the first published model with stated conditions for its own refutation in 2026. Each person is credited with what they actually did. The point is not reverence. It is that the moves in this method are old, tested and shared with the rest of neuroscience.
The larger part of the course is the detail behind the simple model. The neuron and its potentials, inhibition and disinhibition, the labeled line, networks, central integrated state, diaschisis and its counterpart, plasticity, and the constraints that limit how far a system can change. Then receptors in full: transduction, how the senses evolved and develop, the difference between senses that cannot be declined and senses that can, and the physiology of each receptor type. Then integration, taught through five functional nodes (the sensory interface, the reflex and brainstem hub, the cerebellar module, the basal ganglia and thalamic modulator, and the cerebral cortex), each with an introduction to its anatomy and its characteristic pattern of failure. Then the effectors, and finally behavior as the output that returns as input.
This is a hands-on course from the first ten minutes. Alongside the sealed box, everyone maps their own physiologic blind spot, measures how much that map varies by itself, and tests a written prediction against it. Three rounds of a simple game of catch show what changes when the receptor, the integration or the effector is altered one at a time. Scenario exercises train you to place findings into nodes, and a closing exercise has you sort real interventions by how they enter the nervous system and by whether anyone is holding the loop.
The course teaches no disease and no treatment technique, and it assumes no earlier course. It is the ground the rest of the curriculum is built on, and it is complete in itself for a clinician who takes only this one. It is written for chiropractors, physical therapists, physicians and other clinicians who want to reason about the nervous system and not only work on it.
Components
Educational Syllabus
- Understanding How the Brain Works
- Explore the fundamental operating principles of the nervous system through the relationship between sensory input, neural integration, and motor output. Examine how the brain processes incoming information, compares it with previous experiences, and generates measurable responses that guide clinical observation and neurological reasoning.
- The History and Evolution of Functional Neurology
- Trace the historical development of neurological science and the foundational discoveries that shaped modern functional neurology. Explore how evolving knowledge of nervous system organization, sensory processing, and motor control established the framework for understanding neurological function through observable behavior.
- The Core Principles of Functional Neurology
- Examine the seven foundational elements of functional neurology, including efferent expression, network function, integration, neural architecture, hub inference, weighted input, and closed-loop revision. Understand how these interconnected principles support systematic neurological observation, clinical prediction, and reassessment.
- Clinical Observation and the Neurological Examination
- Develop an understanding of structured neurological observation and the importance of documenting measurable findings before interpreting their significance. Explore how posture, movement, speech, autonomic responses, and other observable characteristics provide information about nervous system function and help guide the sequence of clinical examination.
- Clinical Reasoning and Neurological Localization
- Investigate the principles of abductive, deductive, and inductive reasoning as they apply to neurological assessment. Learn how clinicians develop hypotheses, establish testable predictions, distinguish between neurological findings, and use patterns of dysfunction to support anatomical and functional localization.
- Neuronal Structure and the Electrical Foundations of Neural Communication
- Examine the neuron as the fundamental signaling unit of the nervous system, including cellular organization, membrane properties, and the mechanisms responsible for electrical excitability. Explore resting membrane potentials, ionic gradients, action potential generation, and the relationship between neuronal firing frequency and information transmission.
- Neural Excitability, Signal Transmission, and Sensory Integration
- Explore how neural signals are generated, propagated, and integrated within interconnected neuronal networks. Examine the influence of stimulation intensity, duration, and route on neuronal responses, including the physiological limitations imposed by refractory periods and the mechanisms that regulate neural excitability.
- Sensory Receptors and the Transduction of Environmental Information
- Investigate how specialized sensory receptors convert physical energy into electrical signals that can be processed by the nervous system. Explore receptor activation, graded potentials, sensory adaptation, firing frequency, and recruitment as mechanisms for encoding stimulus intensity and changes in the sensory environment.
- Synaptic Transmission and the Five Nodes of Neural Integration
- Examine the physiological mechanisms of communication between neurons, emphasizing electrical and chemical synapses, neurotransmitter release, receptor activation, and postsynaptic responses. Explore the six stages of chemical synaptic transmission, ion channel function, and the processes through which synaptic activity influences neural network behavior.
- NMDA Receptors, Calcium Signaling, and Neural Plasticity
- Explore the role of NMDA receptors in coincidence detection, calcium-dependent signaling, and activity-dependent changes in synaptic function. Examine how intracellular calcium signaling influences neuronal adaptation, gene regulation, and the mechanisms underlying changes in neural connectivity and network responsiveness.
- Functional Organization of Sensory and Motor Pathways
- Investigate the interconnected organization of sensory receptors, ascending pathways, central processing networks, cortical regions, and motor effectors. Examine how information moves through the nervous system and how characteristic patterns of neurological dysfunction can help identify the location and functional significance of impaired processing.
- Vestibular, Proprioceptive, and Visual Systems in Neurological Function
- Explore the functional relationships between vestibular input, joint and muscle proprioception, and visual processing in the regulation of posture, orientation, and coordinated movement. Examine how findings across these sensory systems contribute to neurological assessment and the interpretation of integrated sensorimotor responses.
- Motor Effectors, Muscle Physiology, and Motor Unit Recruitment
- Examine the physiological mechanisms responsible for converting neural commands into muscular activity, including skeletal muscle organization, sarcomere function, calcium-mediated contraction, and motor unit activation. Explore orderly motor unit recruitment and the distinction between changes in motor performance caused by repetitive activation and those associated with muscular weakness.
- Behavioral Output and Closed-Loop Neurological Regulation
- Investigate behavior as the measurable expression of sensory input, neural integration, and motor output. Explore how the nervous system continuously evaluates the consequences of its responses through sensory feedback, reference signals, and prediction errors, allowing ongoing modification of motor performance and neurological function.
- Neuroplasticity, Network Remodeling, and Integrated Clinical Reasoning
- Examine the mechanisms of activity-dependent neural remodeling, including long-term potentiation, long-term depression, and changes in synaptic responsiveness. Integrate the foundational principles of sensory processing, neural integration, motor output, and closed-loop revision to understand how clinicians can develop predictions, evaluate neurological responses, and refine their clinical reasoning through repeated observation and reassessment.
Venue, Hotels & Schedule
Adelaide, Australia
Venue
Australian Chiropractic College (ACC) Adelaide Campus
Adelaide Campus, Level 2/101 Grenfell St,
Adelaide SA 5000, Australia
LEVEL 3, in the DANIEL ROOM
Access Info:
Phone:
Airport:
Schedule:
Friday: 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Time Zone:
Dress Code:
Also includes
Foundations of Functional Neurology
Understand how the nervous system works, how it can be read from the outside, and what makes a piece of clinical work functional neurology.
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