S10 E213 - Mind in Motion

Can enhancing brain function actually help seniors improve mobility, memory, and overall quality of life? In this enlightening episode, host Wendy Jones sits down with Jennifer Krieter, a physical therapist and founder of Mind in Motion Performance Training, LLC.

Jennifer shares her journey from traditional physical therapy to exploring applied and functional neurology. She reveals how simple sensory inputs—like smell, sight, and movement—can dramatically improve balance, posture, memory, and pain management for seniors. Through practical exercises and real-life examples, Jennifer demonstrates how leveraging neuroplasticity can empower seniors to regain independence and confidence in daily activities.

Whether you’re a senior, caregiver, or someone interested in innovative health strategies, Jennifer explains how targeted brain-body exercises can enhance performance, reduce the fear of falling, and even restore skills thought lost with age.

Key Highlights in this Episode:

The Mind in Motion Approach: Jennifer explains functional and applied neurology, neuroplasticity, and how sensory inputs can be used to retrain the brain for improved movement and memory.

Real-Life Transformations: Stories of clients—from an 81-year-old improving his mobility in minutes to individuals managing chronic pain and memory challenges—highlight the effectiveness of her methods.

Practical Exercises for Seniors: Simple, at-home exercises using smell, eye movements, and sensory stimulation to improve spatial awareness, mobility, and memory retention.

Innovative Pain Management: How targeted brain input can reduce or eliminate chronic pain, such as back pain from previous injuries or conditions like shingles.

Memory Enhancement: Techniques that pair movement with recall exercises to help seniors strengthen memory and cognitive performance.

Resources & How to Contact the Guest:

• Visit Jennifer's Website: mindinmotionperform.com
• Call: 248-670-3853

Podcast Schedule: Tune in to Next Steps for Seniors with new episodes dropping twice a week at 7:00 AM!

Every Tuesday: Educational and insightful content to help you navigate the practical steps of aging.

Every Friday: Spiritual and emotional support to encourage your heart and mind.

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Learn more : https://omny.fm/shows/next-steps-4-seniors-with-wendy-jones

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is Next Steps for Seniors with your host, Wendy Jones. Each week, Wendy brings resources and information to help guide you through those next steps with elderly parents and loved ones. If you have questions or topic suggestions, you can call us at 248-651-5010.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Welcome to Next Steps for Seniors Conversations on Aging. I am so blessed to be with you today. And as you all know, I have such a passion for sharing good information. And today is no different because we have a guest in the studio who is a physical therapist. And anyone who's had issues with balance, posture, speed, all of this will come into play today in our program. And our our topic is mind in motion. So welcome, Jennifer. How are you today? I'm great. Thank you for having me. And your last name is Crater?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Okay. And she is the owner of Mind in Motion Performance Training. So very blessed to have you in the studio. We are here in Michigan, but her services are available online. So if you're listening anywhere in the United States or outside, just know that you can do it online. Because it's uh it's something that's really intriguing to me as far as utilizing your brain. So talk to us a little bit about what functional neurology is and how you went from physical therapy and kind of expanded your your depth.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah, my knowledge. So I had some sensations myself and I was trying to heal them, and I wasn't having a lot of success with the traditional physical therapy routes or Western medicine. So I started researching alternative methods for treatment. And I came upon something called functional neurology or applied neurology. And when you look it up, it doesn't have a lot of evidence-based support or research for it. And some people would say, oh, it's a bit, you know, woo-woo or hocus pocus. But then when I started looking at what they were actually doing when they were using it, I realized this is a lot of the stuff that I had learned in school, but applying it a different way. So if you look at your brain, I was taught originally that your brain it kind of stops growing per se. If somebody had a stroke, you had a year to get them better, and after that year, that's where they were at. Good luck. Right. That's what we exactly. You got older, good luck. That's where you're at. Well, what we know now is a term called neuroplasticity. Your brain is always changing. You have different paths that it's always making depending on what you do. And we can manipulate that through training, especially in applied neurology ways or with specific drills to change that to better enhance how your brain works. When I explained it to patients, I explained it like if I go into a patient's room and all I have is their name and their date of birth. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that patient. But if I know their name, their date of birth, where they live, what they did for a living, what how many siblings they had, how many children they have, at what sports they played when they were younger, what activities they were engaging now, I can make up a treatment plan that is much more individualized and tailored to that patient or client when I go to do an intervention. The brain is the same way. The more information it has, the better decisions it can make. And those decisions can affect your balance, your posture, your strength, your performance, your memory. And so we're really utilizing these drills that have been around for quite some time in a very functional and strategic way to get the brain to get a better output, i.e., performance.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

And I could see how that parlays into the physical therapy. For example, I have a gentleman who was a professional catcher. So if you know what catcher stance is, it's very low, right? And you are using a lot of your legs. Well, his legs are locked now. As he aged, it just got harder and harder for him to even stretch his legs out. So physical therapy is where he went. But really, sounds like what he needs is you.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, and it's a lot of, especially with my company, we're using concepts of getting that movement. So he's used to the flexing or going down into that catching position and coming out of it. And you do that enough times, you get that pattern. So then it becomes automatic, but then you don't do it anymore. And the brain's like, what's going on? I feel threatened now because I used to do this all the time, and we're not doing this all the time. So now it's going to hold things still and give you that locked feeling because it's like, what's going on? This is different. So we can utilize inputs to improve that and get that mobility or that fluidity back.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

So, what do you think are some of the largest areas of opportunity that you've seen change in? Is it more movement related?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Movement, memory, um, speed with walking. I also work with the brain to work on processing sensations. How many older people have aches and pains, right? They have a lot of pain. A couple few. A couple few. Just a I oh, I feel that in my back, right? So when we you we can utilize these techniques actually to change your pain. We can use it to change how well you can get up out of a chair. We I've had patients come in, they can get out of a chair. We spend maybe three to five minutes working on something, and they can stand up out of a chair without use of their hands. It makes such a big difference in a short period of time. So we look at patients and we try to lower the threats that their brain is anticipating. Your brain is a prediction machine. It's going to predict what happens because its number one job is to keep you safe. Well, if it's predicting pain, every time you wake up, you think you're gonna want to wake up and start your day really chipper? Not really. So if we can give your brain some things such as deep breathing exercises, that's a functional neurology exercise, diaphragmatic breathing, which many people have heard. If you're feeling stressed, if you're having a hard time, what do you do? Take a deep breath. I mean, in through your nose, out through your mouth. I mean, like this is what we all do. This is standard. Yes, right? And that is applied neurology. If your breathing mechanics are off, your brain's not gonna get the proper oxygen. So if we give the brain improved oxygen, you think it's gonna make better choices? 100%, because you're now giving it fuel that it needs.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Uh it's incredible. And I'm sure the listeners are thinking what I'm thinking. This is so innovative, creative, and just how how did you learn about this?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

So, like I said, I was dealing with my own sensations and I started researching it and looking at um some maybe alternative treatments that I could do. And then I was also working as a physical therapist at the time, so I started utilizing these with my own clients. And I have a client who has multiple sclerosis, and for three years I'd worked with him and I didn't know he had short-term memory issues. I would say, Oh, what'd you have for breakfast? And he'd be like, you know, what I usually have. And I would, okay, so he had what he usually had. He had no idea what he had. So I started utilizing these concepts with using his eyes, using smell, and we would start doing memory activities. So I would give him two words that he had to remember during the session, and then at his follow-up sessions, he'd have to remember them. Well, now he's can't How far apart were they? Like a week? Um, not even a week. Sometimes it'd be two days in between, sometimes it would be a week, sometimes it's been four months in between a session because he was out getting care for Wait, and he remembered the two words? He remembered ten words.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Okay, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

He now remembers his address, he now remembers his phone number. I knew him for 10 years. He didn't know my name.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

How old is this gentleman?

SPEAKER_01 6:56

71. Fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

And he's had multiple sclerosis for 30 years. Okay, so we're gonna get into how people can get a hold of you, but I want you to share. Actually, I'm gonna share because when I first talked to Jennifer, part of my hesitation was it sounded too good to be true, which I am sure everybody might be thinking right now. And if that's the case, I said to her, hey, do me a favor, let's do a trial. I would like to see if you can help my father, who is 81 years old, and he's 81. So I'm thinking and he has a very difficult time getting in and out of a car. So she spent a half hour with him and gave him some exercises, and I am not gonna lie, he did it every day solid for a week. I took a video of him getting in the car, and a week later, I took a video of him getting in and out of the car again. And I was shocked at the difference. I was shocked, and he saw the difference.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

And that's the key is when clients or people can see the difference that it makes, and we can show that difference within five to ten minutes typically of a session. Then we have buy-in. Now they're like, hey, I can change. There's hope that it can make a difference for them. So then they're more likely to do it once they keep seeing those differences compile and compile and build on each other.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

So here's what the most fascinating part was she had him lean over to try to touch his toes. And how far did he make it? Like to his knees? Yes. I mean, it was not very far. It was not very far. And then she gave him a couple exercises, which I'll have you explain because I don't want to do that. But and then he leaned over and touched his, uh, tried to touch his toes again, and he went significantly further. Substantially. And then one more time, and he was like almost at the ground. And this was all, like you said, within five minutes. Correct. And it was fascinating to watch because an 81-year-old man who probably hasn't touched his toes in I don't know, eight years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah, can now do it after we've taken his brain and said, here, brain, here's more information. So the brain processes information sensory first. And sensory is like what you feel, what you hear, what you touch, what you taste, what you smell. Those are all sensory inputs. It processes it first, and then you make a motor movement, i.e., a movement. You move your hand, right? You move your leg, you walk, you get up from a chair. So if you give it more sensory input, then it can make a better choice with its output, such as movement or pain. So we gave your father, we worked on some sensory inputs with smelling things through each side. So if you look at the brain, there's two specific hemispheres, your right and your left, that determines if you're right-handed or left-handed. And we utilize those concepts of we maybe we might smell on the right side, and that's actually going to target the right frontal lobe. We might smell something on the left side, that'll get the left side. And then we look at what changes, and we can see if there's an immediate difference, whether it gets better, whether it gets worse, or whether it doesn't change at all. And in your dad's case, we uh we use smell, and I believe we used some hearing. And did we work on his tongue as well? Because you can use tongue movements, and then we can see which ones are going to produce those movements that are gonna increase his range of motion, and it is wild when you see the changes. Not only can we make people better, we can do an input and the brain says, I don't like that. And then the range of motion will get worse. That's very valuable information, and that's when clients are then like, Oh, how did you change that? I could just touch my toes and now I can't. If it was just because I worked out my muscles, I should have still been able to touch my toes. But then when all of a sudden I make it worse, they're like, How'd you do that? That that it shouldn't have gotten worse because I did every I was moving. So then they start to believe more like, okay, it's something going on in my brain that's saying this is allowing me to move this much or not this much. And then we go back to doing something else that the brain says, Hey, I like that information, and then it moves freer and easier.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Our brain, our brain is so powerful, it is incredibly powerful, and we need to maximize the efficiencies of it and expand it just like we do everything else. We're willing to work on our legs, our hips, our, you know, we work on everything. Some people I know even do eye exercises. That is actually part of this is eye exercises. But yet we don't do the brain. So you're listening to Next Steps for Seniors Conversations on Aging, and we're gonna be back in a minute. Welcome back to Next Steps for Seniors Conversations on Aging. Our topic today, mind in motion. And our guest, Jennifer Crater. And let me tell you, she is a wealth of knowledge. And I'm sure you're all as fascinated as I am by what she is about to tell us because I want her to give you a couple exercises and explain a little bit more. But before we do that, grab your pen and paper. She is going to give you how to get a hold of her. She has both a website and a cell phone number. So go ahead, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Yeah, so the business is Mind in Motion Performance Training LLC, and you can find me at mindinmotionperform.com. And my phone number is 248-670-3853.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

So definitely reach out to her. I am a huge proponent of there are many ways that we should be looking at and being innovative with our health. And I'm extremely impressed with Jennifer and what she has really not just created, researched, right? It's already been going on. It just hasn't been prevalent. Correct. And and really took it upon herself to help seniors all over. So God bless you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yes, thank you. I started working with the clients that I already have and implementing some of these tools and was seeing fabulous results. One story is I was working with a client who I'd worked with before, and she was having some back pain. And so we worked on one of her nerves, and it involves touching the side of your face. So we had her do some rotation to the right and she was getting back pain. Well, we had her use her left hand to touch her right upper side of her face, which she then remembered at our next session she had had shingles two years before, and it had involved the right side of her face, and so she had lost some feeling and that right side of her face. As soon as we had her touch that right side, she gave it some input, we reassessed her range of motion, and all of her back pain was gone. No joke, you can't make this up. She was like, How did you do that? You are magic. And it wasn't until the second session that I saw that she remembered the having the shingles and we're like, Yeah, the brain wasn't getting the proper information. We gave the brain the proper information and then she could move without any back pain.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Okay, so it's not magic, just everybody knows. Correct. Jennifer has spent a lot of time and a lot of energy doing this work and helping people all over. So I definitely hope that you will reach out to her, check out her website, give her a phone call. This is what I always say. Why not try it? Everyone's like, well, why should I do this?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Why not? What if it works? That's what I keep saying. Instead of what if it goes bad, what if it works? What if this is the thing that you have been missing and that helps you improve your performance in terms of how well you can walk, how well you can get up out of a chair, how well you can get up off the floor? Seniors have such a fear of falling. We have utilized this to help with that fear of falling tremendously.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

So let's talk about getting out of a chair. That's just a perfect example. Is there what would be an exercise that I know it's going to be hard because we're we're audio and not visual, but is there something you can explain to our listeners that might be helpful?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

So one of the things that we tend to use is smell. So the use of smell, and as if you're a senior, you probably know this already, but your sense of smell has likely diminished as you've gotten older. Sense of smell, sense of taste. So we can utilize that to give your brain more information. So then when you go to get up out of the chair, it's easier to shift that weight forward because now you know where your body is in space a little bit easier. So I have patients they come in, we get sit to the edge of the chair and we work on getting that nose over their toes, but we might have them smell beforehand. We might have them take their eyes and look out farther away from them and then look at something closer to them. Look their eyes at farther away from them, look their eyes closer to them. Because now we're getting spatial awareness, right? Depth perception. And then your body can then make that decision with how to get up a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

So the smell, what are some examples? I know coffee was something you use because my dad loves coffee. Yes. So we had coffee grounds for him. What are some other smell?

SPEAKER_01 15:23

And orange, like peeling orange, you smell the orange. It needs to be a natural scent, essential oils. I use peppermint, um, vanilla. If you like to cook and you have real vanilla at home, the key is it has to be a naturally occurring smell and something you enjoy. So maybe it's a pine tree, maybe it's fresh flowers that somebody sent you. Anything that is a smell that you enjoy that's a natural scent.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

And you do one side first and then the other natural.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Okay, and you see which one gives you better results. For me, my right side gives me the best results. I have another client, we do left side, and that helps their body just kind of turns to butter after, and they can make better decisions afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Well, and I'm I'm sure people are a little nervous because when you said you did something that kept them from getting somewhere, they're probably like, I don't want that to happen. So the smell is simple and easy. Correct. And something you can do at home very easy to do at home. Do it yourself. Yes. A DYI. Okay. So what are some other stories? Because I think, you know, relating to people who have had issues. So you you used back pain, you used shingles. What are there any other things that you can think of? Because I'm I know you've helped so many people.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, so we worked with memory. We worked on um your brain. This has been researched over and over again that if you are trying to recall something, if you pair it with movement, you're gonna recall it better. So they recommend people, even um young people, older people, if they're trying to recall something, you work on the recalling it. Maybe you use a mnemonic, maybe you repeat it, and then you go move because that actually is going to encode it into your brain better. So with my seniors, I have a gentleman that I talked about. He hasn't known my name for a long time. So if he's struggling to remember, we have him move. And then usually in the middle of the movement, he'll say, Jennifer, right? He'll he'll come up with my name, or he'll come up with the word that we're looking for because that movement is now paired with what you're recalling. So then it helps that memory or that performance of recalling or retrieving that information. So we'll do some of those things during sessions. I might, I have this gentleman, we count by tens backwards starting at 100. So instead of counting repetitions, one, two, three, four, five, we'll be one hundred, ninety, eighty, seventy. He struggles with words. So we might do, he has to give me the name of uh girls' names starting from A through K for every repetition. So it might be, you know, A for Anna, B for Bernie, C for Cindy, and he has to go through that. So he's recalling these words as he's moving, which is going to help improve his memory later on. Isn't that fascinating? That's why mind in motion. Correct. Because we are utilizing the mind as you're moving. And how long have you been doing this for, Jennifer? So I've been a physical therapist for over 20 years. I've been utilizing this for about a year now because when I first started learning about it, I was so fascinated with it. I immediately started doing it with clients, and what I was seeing was blowing my mind. So I actually started getting a certification in it and researching lots of different educational uh regimes that teach it because they all teach it a little bit different. But it when you think about it, it is stuff that we've utilized, we just didn't know why it was working the way it was.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Well, and you went away to another state for training, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

I did, yes. I went to Minnesota where I learned some more of this information and now have some apps that I use with my clients. I have a client who um her cerebellum doesn't work great. She falls a lot, she's very clumsy, and so we started using this app. And when we first started, she was at 30 out of 100, correct. So not great, right? Because her cerebellum really wasn't working. So today I worked with her. We did an exercise working on that cerebellum, and she went from 30 to 66. That is fact in 10 minutes, right? So double. Like that's a huge improvement.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

So it is possible to do this online. I just want to encourage you and know it's not free and it's not covered under insurance because I know that's what everyone's thinking of.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Do you want to share the cost or just have them call you? I'll have them call you.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

You can have me call there. There is, if you have listened to this podcast on my website, there is a special. If you mention next step for seniors, you will get a discount on your first session.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Love you. High five for fist pumping right now. Good for you. Okay. Did you hear that, listeners? A special rate just for you. First time rate, and it is discounted. And that's fantastic. Thank you for doing that. So go on to the website, click the little area that says you heard it on the podcast slash radio show. So we're grateful for you, Jennifer. I am thrilled. I love this stuff. Of course, we all need to take our health into our own hands, and we need to advocate for ourselves and our loved ones. And this is an opportunity. I say, why not? That is what I say. What do you have to lose? You are not going to hurt anything. You can only better it. And then you'll be able to go back to all the people that I ask, how in the world can you do that now? And you couldn't do that two days ago. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

And how can I? I mean, I can make such a difference with people in an hour, whereas previously with physical therapy, it would take me a couple sessions to make these changes. And we're seeing those changes so much quicker.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

So we're doing it on Zoom, I believe, is it if you're remote? Correct. Okay, so you just need an email address and she can send you a link. And we did it real live live time with my with my father. So it's possible, and it is very easy to do. You can see her, she can see you, and she'll be able to tell you exactly what to do and how to do it. So I just want to encourage you, think outside of the box. This is an intuitive, new, really exciting, innovative way to really knowledge is power, to gain some knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

So yeah, I think when people they get older, they think, oh, I'm older, you know, I'm kind of set in my ways, I do what I do. And the brain is so powerful. There's a term called neuroplasticity. Your brain continues to change until you die. And we're utilizing that neuroplasticity to make these changes in order to have you live in your home longer, if that's what you want. Go to your granddaughter's, you know, wedding. Pick up your grandchildren. Pick up your grandchildren. And we can utilize these concepts to make those things happen. It used to be like I'm older, that's it. No, that is not it. It doesn't matter where you're at right now, we can make a difference with you from the get-go, whether you're bedbound, whether you are very active, we can improve your performance no matter what stage you're at.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

So if you're the person who's saying, you know what, my back hurts, it always hurts. I'm getting older, this is me. Correct. This is why you're listening today because we do not accept that. Correct. There is an opportunity. Can you even imagine to not have back pain? Anyone who has back pain listening to this program right now is going, there is no way this is going to work. And I'm telling you, why not? Correct. Why not try it? Thanks for tuning in to Next Steps for Seniors. Jennifer, thank you for what you do and for caring and just sharing this with everybody else. Yes, I love it. Appreciate you. Thanks for tuning in, Next Steps for Seniors, Conversations on Aging. And be sure to follow, subscribe, and share this with somebody else who you know might be in pain or need this service. Thank you for tuning in to Next Steps for Seniors. Our podcast drops twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays at 7 a.m. Find us on your favorite podcast platform and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about Next Steps for Seniors, visit us at Next Steps Number 4Seniors.com.