Cerebellum Damage

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Although the brain takes up a small volume of the human body, the impact it has on our functions and processing are hugely significant. The Cerebellum is one such part of the brain that’s impact and function on the body can produce devastation if damaged. Looking at the Cerebellums function, a young man’s struggle with Cerebellum damage and regions of the cerebellum we will explore the importance of this part of the brain.

Located at the back of the brain, the Cerebellum controls a number of bodily movements and visual signals dealing with movement. It provides timing control for the body’s movements making one’s motor function highly reliant on the Cerebellum. Moving objects or personal movements signal the Cerebellum to analyze such events and calculate the speed of these movements, adjusting motor commands according to the movements.

At just sixteen years old, a family friend of mine had his whole life change after damaging his Cerebellum. My childhood summers were spent on a beautiful lake near the Cape of Massachusetts surrounded by family and friends, one of which was Mark. Jumping and diving off of the wooden docks was a common occurrence, however for Mark one jump would drastically change his life. Ambitions of joining the Marines and becoming a fire fighter were changed after a simple dive off a four-foot high dock and into the water. Mark hit his head in such a way that day, that his cerebellum was damaged and his life in jeopardy. Mark spent the next several months in the hospital and his dreams of the Marines were tragically lost as his body movements were significantly delayed. He would often reach for objects but would reach too far and miss the objects entirely. His memory and language had severe impacts and finishing high school took him years to complete due to these obstacles.

The Cerebellum is divided into three regions, the archicerebellum, the palaeocerebellum and the neocerebellum. The archicerebellum is connected to the inner ear and has a large role in balance. Often times when someone has an inner ear infection, it can affect this balance. The paleocerebellum is connected to the spinal cord, which significantly influences muscle and postural activity. The neocerebellum is the largest of all three regions. It coordinates voluntary movements as well as, putting the breaks on one set of muscles while the other is in motion. This helps the body not fall over or convulsively initiate all muscle movements at once.

All in all, the Cerebellum is an important part of both the brain and human body. It plays a significant role in our mobility as humans and damage to it has cruel consequences in many instances.

 

References

“BrainFacts.org.” The Cerebellum, Web. 31 Jan. 2014. http://www.brainfacts.org/brain-basics/neuroanatomy/articles/2012/the-cerebellum/.

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