Extra Credit Project for OT 441: Neuroscience. 

Lyrics: The Best Darn OTs

Written and recorded by Ariel Mazel-Gee

ARIEL

(spoken) If only my classmates could understand, when you sing, learning the descending tracts from the cortex just isn’t so bad!


(sung)
Let’s start with the pathway
for precise movement
It helps us control distal muscles 
and then
we can play piano or vio-lin 
as well as Mischa Elman

The name for it’s long
but tryna fit it in this act--
The “Lateral Corticospinal Tract”
Its origin well could be
In prim’ry-pre or suuuupplement-ryyyy
Well it starts there and then it gets sneaky
Decussates when it hits py-ram-ids
Where does it travel next? 
Lateral funiculus!
Oh but wait--
Where is that?
Oh--SC!

I wanna be the best darn OT
I wanna see, wanna see patients dancin’
Walking around on those...what’s the scientific term for ‘em?
Oh--Pedis!


The next one we’ll sing of is V/ACT
This one’s required for sitting straight, swimming
Descending along down...ugh--what’s that word again?
Ipsilaterallyyyy

Our tracts help us sew, our tracts help us run
Our tracts help us squint our eyes in the sun
Now don’t you see--I just wanna be
The best darn OT

Once V/ACT descends ipsilaterally it travels, you see
Like on a bus through anterior funiculus, then what awaits?
At ventral horn, it dehh-cuh-ssates 
Bilat’rally on both sides of the SC
Descending tracts, let us kick-back
Let us stand tall

So if you want to know what I know 
Learn my ditty, and then you will see
You’ll be a master and then you’ll be, teaching your peeeers


In just two years
We’ll calm patients’ fears, our treatments will bring them smiles instead of tears

Grads of S-C
We’ll surely be
The best darn OTs

For my extra-credit project, I chose to write new lyrics to “Part of your World,” a popular Disney song from The Little Mermaid. I’ve entitled my version of the tune: “The Best Darn OTs.” While I was unable to include some of the more subtle details of how the descending pathways function in my song lyrics, the following is a summary of these neuroscience concepts outlined in greater detail.

The first concept I sang about was the Lateral Corticospinal Tract. This tract is part of the Dorsolateral system, and functions to allow voluntary control of the distal muscles. It is the most important pathway for precise movement, and determines fractionation (the body’s ability to activate individual muscles independently of others). The tract’s upper motor neurons originate in the primary motor cortex, the premotor cortex, and the supplementary motor cortex. After traveling down the spinal cord via the lateral funiculus, the tract decussates in the pyramids of the medulla, and many terminate by contacting interneurons in the spinal cord. Others synapse directly on the lower motor neurons of the ventral horn, and then exit the spinal cord via the ventral root.

The second concept I highlighted in my song was the Ventral/Anterior Corticospinal Tract (which, for purposes of this project, I abbreviated to V/ACT). The V/ACT controls the neck, shoulder, and trunk muscles. Its trajectory down the spinal cord can begin at the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, or the supplementary motor cortex. From here, it descends through the anterior funiculus and can then synapse on the lower motor neurons either ipsilaterally on the ventral horn or it can decussate by sending a projection (offshoot) to a lower motor neuron on the contralateral side. This means that the pathway can have a bilateral projection. After synapsing, the path exits from the spinal cord via the ventral root.

Neuroscience Extra Credit: Best Darn OTs: Ariel Mazel-Gee

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