Laterality Training For Improved Function
Pain and stiffness after an injury aren’t always just about the tissues. Sometimes, the brain plays a major role in how movement feels and how well it returns. One of the foundational tools we use in occupational therapy to address this is called laterality training.
What Is Laterality Training?
Laterality training focuses on restoring your brain’s ability to quickly and accurately identify left versus right body parts. This ability often becomes disrupted following injury, immobilization, or chronic pain. The confusion in the brain’s “body map” can contribute to persistent discomfort, fear of movement, and difficulty regaining motion. All aspects negatively impact your day-to-day well-being.
Laterality training is the first phase of a larger evidence-based strategy called graded motor imagery (GMI), designed to gradually retrain the nervous system and improve function.
Why It Matters
When the brain misidentifies the affected limb or loses a clear picture of where it is in space, movement can feel stiff, awkward, or even painful, despite good healing on a structural level from the intial injury. Laterality training works to:
- Improve brain accuracy in identifying body parts
- Decrease pain sensitivity and protective guarding
- Prepare the nervous system for safe, functional movement
- Build confidence in using the injured limb again
This is especially helpful for individuals recovering from:
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
- Post-surgical stiffness
- Nerve injuries or tendon repairs
- Frozen shoulder
- Chronic joint pain or hypersensitivity
What We Do in the Clinic
At Katherine Jackson Occupational Therapy, PLLC, we guide you through personalized laterality exercises designed to match your needs and recovery goals. These may include:
Image Recognition Drills
We start with carefully selected images of hands, arms, or shoulders shown in a variety of positions. You’ll identify whether each image is of the left or right side and progress from simple to more complex angles. These exercises help recalibrate the brain’s body maps.
Posture and Position Awareness
We may guide you to lightly mirror the postures of the images or compare your real limb position with the visual. This helps strengthen your brain’s proprioceptive understanding (awareness of limb position in space).
Functional Context Matching
Laterality tasks are often integrated into functional tasks, like reaching, grasping, or tool use, so your brain is linking visual recognition with meaningful activity.
Visual and Mental Rehearsal
We introduce guided mental imagery, asking you to picture your limb moving through pain-free activities. This primes the brain for actual motion and helps decrease pain-related fear responses.
For example, I had a client who enjoyed cake decorating. Unfortunately, this client experienced a complex trauma from a laceration caused by broken window glass. The client had high levels of pain, hypersensitivity and hand stiffness. As a home program, the client was instructed to watch videos of people decorating cakes and imagine moving the hand in time with the video demonstrations. Believe it or not: this activity would help reduce pain at home and the client found it to be a soothing way to cope with recovery.
Home Program
To continue progress outside the clinic, you may also use:
- Paper-based left/right recognition cards
- Custom photo decks of your own hand or shoulder
- Suggestions for visual-motor tasks in the mirror
As a supplemental tool, clients may use digital platforms like the Recognize™ app, which offers structured left/right image recognition practice for hands, feet, shoulders, and more. It’s a we may incorporate, depending on your comfort with technology and your rehab goals.
Gentle, Brain-Based Recovery
Laterality training is a low-load, low-risk way to begin engaging with your injured side, even if movement still feels limited or uncomfortable. It’s especially useful in the early stages of recovery when active motion might not yet be possible.
By retraining how your brain perceives the body, we lay the groundwork for meaningful, lasting improvements in mobility, coordination, and comfort.
Want to explore a neuroscience-informed approach to healing?
Contact Katherine Jackson Occupational Therapy, PLLC to learn how laterality training and other targeted strategies can help you recover with greater ease and confidence.
Train your brain, ease your pain: The first step in restoring function
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