Neuroscience Analysis of Occupational Performance (OCTH 455)
and
Neuroscience (PTRS 850)
Ms. Shifty Answer

This is only one of several possible answers to the practice question I provided.

The Question

Ms. Shifty is a cashier at a local grocery store. She likes her job because she gets to see all the townspeople on a regular basis. Her job requires her to stand all day; this has not been a problem until lately. She recently has been noticing difficulty with standing on her feet all day. First of all, when she tries to step into her cubicle, she feels like she is dragging her right leg after her like a sack of potatoes. Then she feels like she's standing on a stump all day after she gets it into place. Luckily, her right side is farthest from the customers and the conveyor on which the food travels, so she can lean away from the problem, and use her counter for support. Her other concern is that she has gotten several cuts on her left leg lately, from the metal corners under her counter where the grocery bags are stored. She hasn't noticed these injuries until she takes off her hose and realizes they are ruined.

One possible answer

The boldface portions of the question are relevant to this particular answer.
  1. Her right leg 'drags' suggesting a motor output problem; may be located in the left cortex, left thalamus, right medulla, right spinal cord (rubrospinal pathway), or lower motor neurons supplying the right leg.
  2. Her right leg seems numb and unresponsive to stimuli ('like a stump'), suggesting a sensory input problem related to touch and pressure sensation; the problem may be located in the touch and/or pressure receptors of the right leg, these sensory inputs to the right spinal cord at the lumbar level, structures of the dorsal horn in the lumbar spinal cord, the right dorsal column pathways beginning in the lumbar levels, the left medulla (medial lemniscus pathway), the left thalamus or the left somatosensory cortex.
  3. Her left leg was injured without her awareness, suggesting a sensory input problem related to pain transmission or perception; the problem may be located in the pain receptors of the left leg, the sensory 'pain' inputs to the left spinal cord at the lumbar level, the midline grey matter of the lumbar spinal cord, the right anterolateral pathways beginning in the lumbar levels, the right medulla, the right thalamus or the right somatosensory cortex.

    Diagram:

    Answer: The only site of injury common to these symptoms is at the thoracic levels of the Right spinal cord.

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