A NEW Treatment for DYSLEXIA and Other Proprioceptive Dysfunctions

There are several types of treatment which must be used concurrently.

1- Active Prisms, which must be prescribed specifically for each case according to precise rules

2- Postural Reprogramming, following MD Martins da Cunha's Techniques

3- Specific proprioceptive infrared insoles

4- Ergonomization Techniques

5- Cognitive training

The aim of the first 3 methods is to correct the proprioceptive system. Its dysfunction is on the origin of dyslexia and of many other symptoms like unbalance and muscle pain.

The aim of the fourth method is to sustain the results. Wrong posture produces proprioceptive dysfunctions.

The aim of the fifth method is to stimulate the affected brain areas.

In conclusion, for an effective treatment we need to correct the proprioceptive system, rehabilitate the affected areas and avoid proprioceptive aggressions in the future.

We emphazise that in the majority of the cases we don't need cognitive training. However, the others 4 items must be observed. The proprioceptive correction is made at home by the children under parent's supervision. Every symptom disappear with this treatment and not just dyslexia. Chronic tiredness, hyperactivity and lack of attention are part of the associated symptoms.

Active Prisms

Active prisms are conceived as a means to enter the proprioceptive system, using the eyes to reach the brain. These prisms are not conceived to correct eye deviations as the usual prisms. Their purpose is to influence the brain proprioceptive centers and modify the proprioceptive output. They are low-powered and prescribed according to the relaxation axis of a specific eye muscle. Active prisms are not prescribed by "trial and error" techniques but according to specific procedures.

Dyslexia as a Proprioceptive Dysfunction Symptom

The authors who have shown success in treating dyslexia are those who are using proprioceptive entries for treatment. Many of them still ignore which exact entries they are using and they are searching for explanations that still remain inconsistent.

However, everything is very easy to explain for researchers that have a deep knowledge of the proprioceptive system: Balance and eye movement are related to the proprioceptive system. Results can be improved if a correct and systematic management is performed. In dyslexics, the neutral balance between agonist and antagonist muscles is not in the zero position. Balance training can help by reestablishing the zero position and providing a new proprioceptive input to the brain. This is the reason why balance training can help curing dyslexia.

However, this is an incomplete treatment. Many other proprioceptive entries must be managed in order to obtain excellent results. Only smooth balance is integrated in the proprioceptive system and cerebellum theory must be reviewed.

Reading disability is not the only symptom in dyslexics. Are these symptoms associated or are they symptoms of a syndrome where dyslexia is included? In 1979, Martins Da Cunha included DYSLEXIA in the Postural Defficiency Syndrome (PDS).

We know PDS is a consequence of a proprioceptive system dysfunction. We also know that reading disability disappears under specific PDS treatment. PDS is not a mechanic body distortion but an unconscious wrong body position due to faulty proprioceptive brain information. Wrong body position is just the tip of the iceberg regarding PDS. Cognitive dysfunctions, pain, unbalance, convergency insufficiency, hearing perception delay, and wrong space localization are only some of PDS's clinical manifestations. Our very long practice has shown that we can treat dyslexia by using the same technique used to treat PDS without dyslexia. This means that Developmental Dyslexia is a PDS condition where cognitive dysfunctions, including reading disabiltiy, are dominant symptoms.

A Cure for Dyslexia

The majority of papers on dyslexia concerns the diagnosis and not the cure. The reason for such is that dyslexia is considered to have an organic origin. However, authors do not have the same opinion regarding organic lesions leading to Dyslexia. Brain cell migration, excess of neural tissue, interhemispherical lesion, brain relief shape disturbances, cromossome 21 modification, etc. are some hypothesis brought up by several authors...

However, common dyslexia presents other symptoms besides reading disabilities, such as tiredness or hiperactivity, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dysorthography, hearing delay perception, frequent falling, limb muscular pain, eye convergency insufficiency, balance difficulties, motor coordination difficulties and many other associated symptoms.

Raising the hypothesis of brain lesion would lead to the conclusion that widepread and multiple brain areas must present lesions. This is not the case as no study was able to find areas of multiple and wide brain lesions. Nonetheless, reading difficulties have increased 3-fold from 1960 to 1990. Organic hypothesis fail to explain this fact. Some authors argue that this is due to a better ability to detect dyslexia. However, these values are not related to dyslexia detected by specialists but rather to reading difficulties detected by teachers among their students.

It is a matter of fact that postural aggression leading to proprioceptive dysfuncion increased during this elapsed time. In our opinion, this is the real reason for the high number of dyslexic children nowadays.

Brain mapping of these children shows widespread areas with absolute power high levels in the brain. These areas return to normal after our proprioceptive treatment. THIS EVIDENCE EXPLAINS THE MULTIPLE ASSOCIATED SYMPTOMS and it also explains why the number of cases keeps increasing.

Through literature review, we verified that some techniques leading to better reading ability have also been described. Apparently, each technique is using a different mechanism and this creates some confusion about how it works. Our knowledge enabled us to understand that all these techniques leading to a progress in reading abilty - even though their authors ignore it - are using a proprioceptive entry.

Our clinical experience makes us confident that the management of a single proprioceptive entry is not enough to achieve good results and it only allows to obtain weak results. We also know that the strongest proprioceptive pathway to treat dyslexia is the trigeminal pathway.