The brainstem is a small structure doing enormous work: it filters sensory input, coordinates eye movement, regulates blood pressure, breathing, and swallowing, and gates almost everything the cortex tries to do.
Because it sits between the spinal cord and the higher brain, dysfunction here shows up as vague, systemic symptoms — brain fog, dizziness, fatigue, gut issues, sleep disturbance — that don't obviously point at one organ.
Assessing the brainstem clinically means testing what it should do automatically: eye movements, reflexes, autonomic responses. Rehab is about restoring those baseline behaviors so the rest of the brain has a stable foundation.
Connected Pillars
