Proverbs and Aphorisms in Neurorehabilitation: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: Brain plasticity is not limited to childhood or adolescence, as originally assumed, but continues into adulthood. Understanding this conceptual evolution about the nervous system, neuroscience and neurorehabilitation, researchers have left different proverbs and aphorisms derived of their investigations that are still used in university and postgraduate training. A proverb is defined as a phrase of popular origin traditionally repeated invariably, in which a moral thought, advice or teaching is expressed. On the other hand, an aphorism is understood as a brief and doctrinal phrase or sentence that is proposed as a rule in some science or art. The aim of this paper is to present a compilation of proverbs and aphorisms related to neuroscience and neurorehabilitation, classified chronologically, to illustrate the conceptual evolution about the brain and to improve our understanding about the management of neurological patients through the methods and techniques developed during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, as many therapies are based on them. Methods: A literature review was conducted based on the recommendations for Systematic Reviews guidelines for scoping reviews. A computerized search was conducted in the following electronic databases: CINAHL Medical Science, Medline through EBSCO, PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and Scopus, limiting the search to papers published until April 2021 in English and Spanish. Inverse searches were also carried out based on papers found in the databases. The following data were extracted: technique or approach; author; date of birth and death; proverbs and aphorisms; clinical interpretation. Results: Proverbs and aphorisms linked to authors such as Charles Edward Beevor (1854–1908), Heinrich Sebastian Frenkel (1860–1931), Rudolf Magnus (1873–1927), Nikolai Bernstein (1896–1966), Donald O. Hebb (1904–1985), Elwood Henneman (1915–1996), Wilder Graves Penfield (1891–1976), Humberto Augusto Maturana Romesín (1928), Edward Taub (1931), Janet Howard Carr (1933–2014), Roberta Barkworth Shepherd (1934), Brown & Hardman (1987), Jeffrey A. Kleim and Theresa A. Jones (2008) were compiled. Conclusion: Different authors have developed throughout history a series of proverbs and aphorisms related to neurosciences and neurorehabilitation that have helped to better our understanding of the nervous system and, therefore, in the management of the neurological patient through the methods and techniques developed throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Therapeutic aphorisms for paranoid personality disorder and paranoid ideation treatment: psychological opposites and complementaries in brief therapy

“…He used this term as the title of his collection of sayings, in which he set out some medical principles ( Hippocrates, 1994 ). During the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, several authors in the medical field developed As related to neuroscience and neurorehabilitation that helped to improve our understanding of the nervous system and, therefore, the management of the neurological patient ( Cano-de-la-Cuerda, 2021 ). Medical As are recognised as educating for narrative sensitivity, as a help to memorise instructions, to inform the patient about clinical judgement, to reinforce the physician’s professional behaviour, and to build the physician’s professional identity ( Levine and Bleakley, 2012 ).…”

A Study on Some Probability Problems in Proverb Situations

“…Jamie L. Rehmel [15] analyzed and tested the cognition of proverbs from the perspective of brain function and pathology. Roberto Cano-de-la-Cuerda [16] used proverbs related to neuroscience and neurological rehabilitation to help understand the nervous system and provide methods and techniques for the rehabilitation of neurological patients. From the perspective of neuroscience, Kljajevic, V [17] took 333 healthy individuals aged 18 ∼ 89 years as samples and found that age had a significant impact on the interpretation of proverbs.…”

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