Louise,

From what I understand about the Buffalo protocol and such, a trainer can be a big problem. Trainers usually focus on helping you push harder. That is counter to what you need. If anything, the trainer should be monitoring your heart rate and keeping you 10% below your symptoms threshold. Then every 2 weeks or so, try increasing your heart rate by 5% to see if you can remain symptom free.

Plus, he could help you work on body/muscle awareness. The goal is to isolate the muscle group you are working on so you do not engage other muscles. This is a challenge for people with PCS because the brain wants to tense up other muscles. We just had a neuro-rehab PT speak at our TBI Support Group tonight and he explained the need to watch for this.

He told us how Moshe Feldenkrais explained how the nervous system wants to misfire in this area and how it takes effort to overcome this propensity to use more muscles that the task requires. This can be more of a problem with the upper body as the neck tenses up and causes a myriad of neurological symptoms.

Maybe your trainer needs to read up on the Buffalo protocol and see if he can direct you according to it.