Dr David McGrath

Spine Physician

MB BS (Hons) FAFOM, RACP, FAFMM
Master of Pain Medicine

Reference frames are a set of concepts which allow orientation and effective action. Before considering the issue of an internal reference frame,a short synopsis of other types would create a background.
There are many types of reference frame. The most common type are maps.
1.Maps. Earth,cities,space,topography,geology,climate,weather,houses,gardens
2.Blueprints. Electronic circuits,mechanical drawings.
3.Mind maps. Concept relationship drawings
4.Encylopedias.

All maps have a set of rules by which the elements of the map relate.
1.Encyclopedias are written in a human language which has its specific words and grammar.
2.Topographic maps use lines and other shapes related by concepts of distance.
3.Electronics and scientific papers are written in the language of mathematics.

The value of maps and reference frames,is effective action. This can be understood with a simple contingency table (itself a type of map)

MapEffectiveness	Effective Action	Ineffective Action
Utilizing a Map	a	b
Not using a Map	c	d

The effectiveness with a map is a/(a+b) compared to non using a map of c/(c+d)
Finding a street in a foreign city might be as folows:

MapEffectiveness	Locate Street	Lost
Utilizing a Map	99	1
Not using a Map	40	60

In this example,the success is 99% compared to only 40% without a map.
An obvious thought, would also be, that there are different quality maps. Some maps, might be as good as GPS satellite orientation, while others might be worse than no map at all. When Captain James Cook, was trying to discover a North West passage through the arctic, he found to his fury that the old maps were so incorrect, he would have fared better without them.

What type of map do we need to orietate ourselves, in order to improve our spinal health ?
Possibly,none at all. Let the captain guide us through the reefs. There are good doctors who could tell us what to do, or do it for us.
1. Sit up straight, or you will have pain
2. I can fix that, with operation X
3. This is how your seat should be set

If this advice has been good enough in the past, a personal map may be uneccesary. On the other hand, maybe we could do better.
What would be the language of this map ? Lines,drawings,mathematics,words,images ?

Possibly, we could construct the map with images of joints,muscles,blood flow,hormones. Would such a construction lead to us to comfort?
Back to a few facts. Musculosketal pain has many origins, but one of them is movement. If we constructed a movement map, there is the possibility of guiding us to painless movements. This is similar to Captain Cook,looking to avoid a collision with the coastline. In that case, mapping the coastline makes a lot of sense, as compared to mapping ocean currents,for example.
Could we map, our pain free movements,to prevent a collision with a painful component. Such a map, might also allow insights, into reclaiming painless movement possibilities, not unlike Captain Cook, using his maps to locate better shipping lanes.
Let's call the map "pain free body image". We would hope a contingency table, might look something like this.

Body ImageEffectiveness	Pain Free Actions	Painful Actions
Good pain free Body Image	80	20
Poor pain free Body Image	50	50

In this hypothetical, we can successfully avoid pain 80% of the time, as compared to 50% with a less than good body image. As with all maps, there may be no end to improvement. Maybe 99% success is possible.
There may also be an added benefit, to creating such a map. Unlike a coastline, our structure is a self repairing entity, which would respond to the improved 80% over 50% pain free actions. In other words our recovery rate would go up, while our damage rate would go down. This non linear dynamic, would be to our amplified benefit. As structures recover, the coastline changes, allowing further painless movements and a new map emerges.
How do we create such a map?
Not much different,from Captain Cook,one observation at a time, and meticulous care with detail.
This is the purpose of Recursive Neuromodulation