What is your bodies Neurological GPS?

Have you been struggling where to start your clients during their first sessions?  Here is a great way to get your footing with new clients and sell success right away. 

Here is how we use a clients background information as a Neurological GPS starting point. 

How Scars, Surgeries, and Stress Shape the Brain’s Threat Map 

You’ve read a thousand intake forms.

ACL tears. Car accidents. Concussions. Chronic stress.

 And most of the time, they get filed away as just that—history.

But here’s the truth:

In applied neurology, client history isn’t the background.

It’s the map.

It’s how the nervous system has learned to navigate the world.

And it’s full of detours, pain tags, potholes, and blocked roads that shape every rep, every hesitation, and every flare-up your client experiences today.

The Nervous System Doesn’t Forget—It Encodes

Every fall, surgery, car crash, and emotional breakdown leaves more than a memory.

It leaves a neural tag—a signature of threat encoded into the body’s sensory systems.

• That twisted ankle from high school?
  It changed their proprioception in that joint.
• That laparoscopic surgery?
  It affected their interoceptive awareness and left residual tension in the tissue.
• That panic attack before a presentation?
  It rewired how their brainstem processes breathing under pressure.

These aren't just past events.

They're active inputs—data the brain still references today when deciding whether a movement is safe.

Meet the Threat Map

Every client walks in with a unique threat map—a personal database of everything the nervous system has deemed “dangerous” or “unpredictable.”

And most of it isn’t conscious.

That shoulder that won’t release?

• Maybe it’s not a strength issue.
• Maybe it’s tied to the vestibular disorientation from a past fall.
• Or the insula cortex flagging the area as emotionally unsafe due to a trauma that happened during sport.

You won’t find that in a movement screen.

You’ll find it in their history. 

Story: A Shoulder That Wouldn’t Let Go

 One of our clinicians worked with a woman who’d had chronic right shoulder tension for over a decade.

She’d tried everything:

• Dry needling
• Soft tissue work
• Shoulder mobility drills
• Strength progressions

Nothing held.

 But during history taking, she casually mentioned an old skiing accident.

 She’d fallen, hit her head, and blacked out for a few seconds.

No one ever followed up—it wasn’t even listed on her intake.

When we tested her visual tracking and vestibular balance, both were off.
Once we applied a low-dose VOR drill, her shoulder ROM improved 20 degrees in 30 seconds.

No manual therapy.

No cueing.

Just neurological input.

That old fall wasn’t over.

Her brain had memorized the threat and was still organizing movement around it.

Reframing History as a Neurological Tool

Most rehab protocols treat history as background noise.

 But when you view it through the lens of neurophysiology and threat modulation, everything changes.

A complete neuro-informed history helps you:

• Identify stored neural threats in the brainstem, cerebellum, or sensory pathways
• Predict which patterns might be avoided or compensated
• Anticipate dysregulation during certain drills or positions
• Choose the right neural entry points for assessment and regulation

It gives you insight into why a movement isn’t happening—not just where it’s breaking down.

What to Ask: The Neurological Intake Upgrade

Here are 5 brain-based prompts to add to your intake:

1.  “Have you ever had a head injury, concussion, or fall where your head hit something—even lightly?”
   → Vestibular, visual, and midbrain threats are often buried here.
2.  “Have you had any surgeries or scars?”
   → The brain maps scars as threats—even laparoscopic or small ones.
3.  “Have you had any high-stress life events that felt overwhelming?”
   → Emotional trauma gets stored in the interoceptive network (insula, brainstem, vagus).
4.  “What positions or movements just feel ‘off’ to you—without explanation?”
   → These often signal movement avoidance due to poor mapping or emotional tagging.
5.  “Do you notice your pain or tension changes with certain environments, smells, lights, or sounds?”
   → Sensory mismatch or midbrain hyperactivity could be at play.

You’re Not Just Listening—You’re Threat Mapping

Every injury = a location the brain may flag as dangerous.

Every stressor = a moment where movement may have been re-associated with fear.

Every scar = an input that might still disrupt proprioception or interoception.

You’re not just collecting data.

 You’re assembling a threat map—a diagnostic tool that can change how you assess, treat, and progress your clients.

Brain Science Backing This Up

Let’s ground this in the research:

•  Neuroplasticity & Trauma Memory
  The brain doesn’t just record events—it rewires around them. (LeDoux, 1998; van der Kolk, 2014)
•  Motor Inhibition via Threat Perception
  Studies show that perceived threat—even in the absence of actual pain—can inhibit muscle firing and coordination. (Moseley & Flor, 2012)
•  Sensory Integration Dysfunction
  A mismatch between visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems alters motor output. (Peterka, 2002; Horak, 2006)
•  Cerebellar & Brainstem Involvement in Emotional Regulation and Movement Control
  Emotional trauma affects the same brain areas responsible for fine motor timing and coordination. (Schmahmann, 2019; Craig, 2009)

These systems don’t operate in isolation.
They overlap. They adapt. And they remember.

Read Between the Lines

When your client tells you:

• “My pain comes and goes randomly.”
• “I’ve always hated side planks.”
• “I’ve never felt balanced since that surgery.”

They’re not just giving you backstory.

They’re handing you coordinates on their threat map.

Use them. 

Because when you reframe history through a neuro lens, you stop chasing symptoms—and start solving the right problems.

If you want to learn more about this and how we handle our own personal clients with applied neurology and how we implement this in other coaches businesses, here are FREE masterclasses around these subjects. 

To get more information on our in depth Next Level Neuro Mentorship, click here. 

If you want to contact us and ask how this works with your current business, click here.