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Movement Disorders I
Master the neural integrator model of movement disorders and apply it at the bedside
Decode dystonia, tremor, and gaze dysfunction through the neural integrator model in this advanced 25-credit clinical course.
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Course Description
Movement disorders remain among the most complex and undertreated conditions in clinical practice. Cervical dystonia, mesencephalic tremor, and gaze instability often persist for years because the underlying neural mechanisms go unrecognized at the bedside.
This course reframes movement disorders through the lens of the head and ocular neural integrator, giving clinicians a contemporary, evidence-based framework that connects proprioception, cerebellar feedback, basal ganglia function, and the interstitial nucleus of Cajal into a coherent clinical model. You will examine live patient cases, perform hands-on practicums, and observe human brain dissection to build the anatomical and functional fluency that transforms how you assess and treat this patient population.
What you’ll learn:
- Identify null point drift and distinguish leaky from irritable neural integrators clinically
- Apply the head drift time constant test to quantify neural integrator integrity
- Classify cervical dystonia by null position and design individualized treatment plans
- Interpret gaze-evoked nystagmus to localize cerebellar and mesencephalic dysfunction
- Integrate proprioceptive, vestibular, and visual feedback into movement disorder rehab
More About This Course
Movement disorders represent one of the most clinically demanding frontiers in functional neurology. Conditions such as cervical dystonia, Holmes tremor, atypical Parkinsonism, and gaze instability challenge clinicians precisely because their underlying neural architecture is rarely mapped at the bedside. This 25-credit course, Movement Disorders Part 1, taught by Frederick Carrick, BC, DACNB, closes that gap by delivering a contemporary, neuroscience-grounded framework built around the neural integrator model of head and eye position control.
At the core of this course is the interstitial nucleus of Cajal and its role in maintaining head and gaze stability. Clinicians learn to identify null point drift, distinguish leaky from irritable neural integrators, quantify head drift time constants, and apply that information directly to patient care. The course covers cervical dystonia classification using Hoehn and Yahr and UPDRS scales, sensory mismatch physiology, proprioceptive feedback loops, cerebellar and basal ganglionic contributions to motor control, and the clinical significance of vestibulo-ocular reflex integrity. Research from Shaikh, Lee, Blood, and Crawford is translated into practical examination and rehabilitation strategies.
This course is designed for licensed clinicians who are serious about expanding their competency in functional neurology, chiropractic neurology, vestibular rehabilitation, and complex movement disorder management. It is particularly well suited for clinicians who encounter patients with unexplained tremor, cervical posturing, gait instability, or visual disturbance following neurological injury.
Dr. Frederick Carrick is widely regarded as a founder of functional neurology. He holds faculty appointments at Harvard, has presented at institutions including the Hopital de la Salpetriere in Paris, and serves as principal investigator on NIH-registered studies. His clinical rounds in movement disorders attract neurologists and researchers from around the world. This course brings that same depth of clinical reasoning directly to your practice.
Components
Educational Syllabus
- Neural Systems and the Architecture of Movement Control
- Establish the five cytoarchitectonic projection pathways of every cortical neuron and understand how multiple connectivity explains the complexity of movement disorders and their clinical presentations.
- Dystonia Defined: Classification, Scales, and Clinical Recognition
- Master the consensus definition of dystonia, its dynamic nature, and the rating scales clinicians need to document and track real outcomes in patients with twisting and sustained movement patterns.
- The Neural Integrator: Where Gaze Stability Is Born
- Understand how the ocular and head neural integrators convert transient velocity commands into sustained position signals, and why all integrators are inherently leaky and clinically relevant.
- The Interstitial Nucleus of Cajal and Head Position Control
- Explore the INC as the mesencephalic hub for three-dimensional head orientation, its cerebellar and basal ganglionic inputs, and why its dysfunction produces the cardinal features of cervical dystonia.
- Finding the Null Point: The Foundation of All Treatment
- Learn to locate the null point through clinical observation, Maddox rod testing, and head drift timing, and understand why every rehabilitation strategy must be anchored to this position.
- Leaky vs Irritable Integrators: Two Disorders, Two Strategies
- Distinguish velocity-decreasing drift toward the null from velocity-increasing drift away from it, and understand how each pattern demands a fundamentally different clinical and rehabilitative response.
- Head Drift Time Constants and the Manipulation Window
- Quantify the time to onset of centripetal head drift with eyes closed, use it to lateralize integrator dysfunction, and measure whether a chiropractic manipulation improves or disrupts that fidelity.
- Proprioception, Sensory Mismatch, and the Subluxation Model
- Examine how aberrant cervical proprioception distorts neural integrator fidelity, why vibration models this clinically, and how joint fixation may produce null point shifts that characterize cervical dystonia.
- Cerebellar Feedback and Its Role in Dystonia Pathogenesis
- Establish the cerebellum as the primary feedback source to the neural integrator, understand diaschisis and cerebellar diaschisis, and connect cerebellar examination findings to movement disorder treatment selection.
- Basal Ganglia, Limbic Systems, and the Spreading Dystonia Model
- Trace the globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and nigral pathways that modulate the neural integrator, and understand why cervical proprioception directly influences limbic and emotional concomitants of dystonia.
- Human Brain Dissection: Anatomy You Can Touch
- Examine live coronal and sagittal brain sections revealing the caudate, globus pallidus, thalamus, nigra, INC, and cerebellar nuclei in their true spatial relationships to build irreplaceable anatomical fluency.
- Gaze Stabilization Practicums: Training the Null to Expand
- Practice laser-guided head targeting, memorized saccadic training, and no-no head movement techniques to expand the null point and restore stable gaze fixation in simulated and real patient scenarios.
- Clinical Case Mastery: Mesencephalic Tremor and Atypical Parkinsonism
- Work through live cases of Holmes tremor and atypical Parkinson's disease, learning to use arm swing, VOR potentiation, and Archimedes circle grading to guide treatment decisions in real time.
- Visual-Vestibular Integration and Dizziness in Movement Disorders
- Analyze how disconjugate eye movement, hyperventilation syndrome, and cervical dystonia interact in a young patient, and develop a stepwise rehabilitation plan addressing each contributing mechanism.
- Building a Patient-Specific Treatment Framework for Movement Disorders
- Synthesize the neural integrator model, null point identification, proprioceptive feedback principles, and cerebellar rehabilitation into a coherent, individualized clinical approach for each movement disorder patient.
Venue, Hotels & Schedule
Also includes
Movement Disorders I
Decode dystonia, tremor, and gaze dysfunction through the neural integrator model in this advanced 25-credit clinical course.
$
$
(
$
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