In medical speak, this term is also referred to as brain plasticity or neural plasticity. Basically it refers to the changes to the brain over time. With regard to physiological trauma such as spinal cord injury it refers to the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize. While I have no scientific basis or research to back this up I believe that unlocking the brain’s plasticity and why it behaves in this adaptive way is the key to ultimately finding a curative treatment protocol to this injury. The reason I say this is from my own recovery experience. Unlike what common medical beliefs and population studies suggested recovery of lost function continues long after the previous accepted norms of 1-2 years. For decades it was common belief amongst the affected specialties that recovery from spinal cord injury plateau’s after 1-2 years. In the decade since my injury I have had more recovery in the last 7 years than the first 3 years by many fold. Why? I believe the magic lies in leveraging the brain’s plasticity. How do I think I accomplished that? By nurturing my system with the right “food” - proper nutrition, rest, visualization, mindfulness, community, exercise, belief and attitude - I have provided my system the best opportunity to reorganize and adapt to this injury. In recent years I believe this allowed me to push boundaries and accomplish some audacious goals such as riding a road bicycle again, hitting a golf ball (without falling!), rowing in a crew shell and taking a ski run. I believe that plasticity, if properly leveraged, can be harnessed to bring healing and capability to all of us dealing with physical or mental adversity.