Body 101 · Special Lesson · Lesson 13 · Ages 8 to 13

Who Is a Neurologist, and What Do They Do?

Your body has wires running all through it, from the brain down the spinal cord and branching out to your fingertips. The doctor who looks after this whole wiring system is called a neurologist. This lesson shows what this doctor looks after, how they examine you without needles or cuts, which machines let them look inside the brain, what a typical day looks like, and how many years of study it takes to become one.

A translucent standing body with the brain, spinal cord and golden glowing nerves branching out to the fingertips and toes, on a deep blue background

1 · MeetThe doctor for the body’s wiring

What does a neurologist look after?

The nervous system has four main parts: the brain, the brainstem, the spinal cord, and the nerves that branch out through the whole body to the muscles. A neurologist looks after all of them. Tap the dots on the picture to see what each part does and what the doctor looks for during an examination.

In Thai, the word for neurologist means ‘nerve doctor’. The English word neurologist comes from the Greek word neuron, meaning a sinew or nerve.

There are several kinds of brain doctor, and they are not the same

People often mix up these three doctors. All three deal with the brain, but each has a different job.

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Neurologist

The physician of the nervous system. They examine, diagnose and treat with medicines, rehabilitation and lifestyle changes, but do not operate. They see conditions such as migraine, epilepsy, stroke and nerve inflammation.

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Neurosurgeon

The surgeon of the brain and spinal cord. They remove tumours, repair bulging blood vessels, or operate after accidents. Neurologists and neurosurgeons work as a pair very often.

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Psychiatrist

The doctor for moods, thoughts and behaviour, treating conditions such as depression, anxiety and ADHD with both medicines and talking therapy. Because the mind comes from the very same brain, these two kinds of doctor refer patients to each other all the time.

Game: send the patient to the right doctor

Read the symptoms and choose which doctor the patient should see first. Answering quickly and getting several right in a row earns more points. You have 45 seconds.

045 seconds

Press Start to play

An empty consulting room with an examination couch, a wooden desk holding a brain model, a lightbox on the wall showing a head scan, and a chair for the patient, under warm lamp light

2 · ConditionsThe patients who come to a neurologist

The conditions neurologists see most often

Each condition starts in a different place in the nervous system. Some are in the blood vessels, some in the brain’s electricity, some in the insulating sheath around the nerves. Tap each one to see what it is and how the doctor helps.

Look closelyA neurologist does not just treat the disease. First they have to work out where along metres of wiring the problem sits. The same symptom, such as a numb hand, could come from the brain, the spinal cord, or a nerve at the wrist. Most of a neurologist’s work is being a detective.

A doctor’s hand in a white coat holding a rubber-headed reflex hammer, about to tap just below a patient’s kneecap, close up

3 · The clinic roomExamining without needles or cuts

The doctor’s tools: tiny, but they tell a lot

Before using any big machine, a neurologist uses three things that fit in a shirt pocket: a little hammer, a torch and a tuning fork. Add walking, holding out the arms and touching the nose, and that is enough to tell where the signals get through and where they get stuck. Try all three below.

A neurologist’s tools on dark blue velvet seen from above: a reflex hammer, a tuning fork, a small lit penlight and a ball of cotton wool — **A neurologist’s tool bag**A reflex hammer, a tuning fork, a small torch and a wisp of cotton wool. All of them check whether nerve signals are getting through along every route.

A lower leg hanging from an examination couch, the knee bones and tendon glowing through the skin, a hammer tapping below the kneecap and the foot kicking forward in a motion blur — **A gentle tap below the knee**The leg kicks out by itself, without you telling it to, because the signal only goes to the spinal cord and back. It never passes through the brain.

A small lit penlight and a vibrating tuning fork on a dark blue desk, with a stethoscope and a tray of cotton wool behind — **Torch and tuning fork**The torch checks whether the pupil shrinks when light hits it. The humming tuning fork is placed on the ankle to check whether you can feel the vibration.

Try it: the reflex hammer

Press to tap

The signal from the tendon below the knee travels to the spinal cord and back, telling the thigh muscle to contract. The signal reaches the muscle in less than a thirtieth of a second, and the visible kick starts a little later. If the kick is too strong, too weak, or different on the two sides, the doctor knows where to look next.

Try it: torch on the pupil

Torch brightness Dark

In the dark, the pupil widens to let in as much light as possible.

The doctor shines the light into one eye at a time and watches whether both pupils shrink together. This pathway runs through the brainstem. If one pupil does not shrink, something may be pressing on the nerve. It is one of the most important checks in the emergency room.

Try it: the tuning fork

The doctor strikes the tuning fork so it hums, rests it on the ankle bone or a toe, and asks whether you feel the buzz and for how long. The nerves that sense vibration are long ones, and in many conditions they are the first to be damaged. Listen to the sound of the tuning fork doctors use. It vibrates 128 times a second.

A low note like this gives a buzz the toes can feel more clearly than a high note. A musician’s tuning fork is usually 440 times a second, which is much higher.

Try it: touch your nose, touch the doctor’s finger

In the clinic, the doctor asks you to touch your own nose, then touch the doctor’s finger, which keeps moving, to see how well the cerebellum coordinates hand and eye. Try the on-screen version: tap the nose and the finger in turn until you have done 10 rounds.

Tap the nose first, then the finger, and keep alternating

Try at homeStand up straight with your feet together, stretch out your arms, then close your eyes for 20 seconds. If you can stand still, your spinal cord, inner ear and cerebellum are working well together. Doctors call this the Romberg test. Do it with an adult standing next to you.

A white MRI scanner in a dim room, its round bore glowing blue, with an empty sliding table in front

4 · MachinesLooking inside the head without opening it

The machines that help doctors see inside the brain

Once the examination in the clinic room has pointed the way, the doctor chooses the right machine. Each one sees something different: one shows shape, another shows electricity, another measures how fast the signals travel.

A glass mannequin head wearing an EEG cap with colourful wires connected to a monitor showing rows of wavy lines, in a dim room — **The brainwave machine (EEG)**Small electrodes are stuck to the scalp to listen to the electricity the brain makes by itself. No electricity goes into you, and it does not hurt at all. It is used a lot in epilepsy.

An MRI room seen through the control room window, the scanner glowing blue, headphones resting on the sliding table and control room screens showing brain scans — **The MRI scanner**It uses a very strong magnet and radio waves to photograph the brain in hundreds of thin slices. There is no radiation, but it is noisy and you have to lie still for a long time.

Try it: reading brainwaves

Which machine sees what?

Machine	What it sees	What it’s like
EEG	The brain’s electricity	Electrode stickers on the head, sitting or lying down for 30 minutes
MRI	The shape of the brain in fine detail	Lying in a noisy tunnel for 20 to 40 minutes
CT	Bleeding and bone, very quickly	A few minutes, a small dose of radiation, used in emergencies
Nerve conduction study	How fast signals travel in the nerves of the arms and legs	Gentle electrical pulses that feel like a static-electricity zap

No machine can read your thoughts An EEG only shows which parts of the brain are awake, asleep, or leaking electricity out of rhythm. An MRI only shows shape. Your thoughts, memories and dreams always stay private.

A hospital corridor at dawn with golden sunlight through the far windows and an empty wheelchair by the wall, nobody around

5 · One dayFrom morning to evening

A day in the life of a neurologist

Neurologists are not only in the clinic room. A single day includes ward rounds in the hospital, seeing outpatients, reading test results, teaching junior doctors, and rushing to the emergency room when a stroke alert comes in. Slide through the day hour by hour.

A neurologist’s desk with a white coat over the chair, a colour-coded brain model, a stethoscope, a cup of tea and a tablet showing a head scan, under lamp light — **A neurologist’s desk**A white coat, a stethoscope, a model of the brain, and the scans that have to be read every day. Most of a neurologist’s work is listening, looking and thinking rather than using tools.

Time 07:00 hrs

07:0012:0018:00

The team that works together every day

Most neurological conditions need many people to help. No doctor can treat them alone.

A winding path of glowing golden stepping stones climbing a dark hill toward a small lit hospital building at the top, under a starry sky

6 · The pathBecoming a neurologist

How many years of study, and what do you need to be good at?

In Thailand the path takes about twelve years after finishing secondary school. Press each step and see how old you would be when you reach it.

Thick medical textbooks stacked high on a wooden desk, their spines showing a brain, heart, lungs and skeleton, beside a brain model under a brass lamp — **A pile of books taller than you**Neurology means memorising the anatomy of the brain, the route of every nerve, and hundreds of conditions. Yet the skill used most of all is listening to the patient’s story.

A magnifying glass resting on a brain model beside a notebook open to blank pages and a pen on a dark desk, under warm lamp light — **The body’s detective**The same symptom can come from different places. A neurologist pieces together the clues from the examination until they can point to where the damage is, before ordering any big scan.

The study path

0

Years of study after high school

18

Approximate age

Detective game: where is the problem?

Read the symptoms and guess which part of the nervous system the damage is in. This is what a neurologist does in their head with every patient.

Press Start

Skills that really matter

Good listening, because the patient’s story is the most important clue. Sharp observation, because the way someone walks or blinks can reveal the condition. Patience, because some conditions take years to improve. And enough honesty to say ‘I don’t know yet’, then go and find the answer.

You don’t have to be top of the class

What this kind of doctor needs is curiosity about why things happen, and no fear of complicated problems. People who enjoy jigsaw puzzles, detective stories, or asking how a machine works usually love this subject.

A gold-rimmed wall clock beside a red emergency lamp on a hospital wall, with a blurred ambulance flashing blue lights outside the window

7 · You can helpKnowing this can help someone at home

When you need a neurologist urgently

Some brain symptoms cannot wait, because millions of brain cells die every minute the brain goes without blood. Even a child can help by knowing the signs and telling an adult straight away.

An ambulance with blue and red lights at a hospital emergency entrance at night, a large glowing round clock above the doors — **Every minute counts**A stroke is treated best if the patient reaches hospital within four and a half hours. The sooner, the more brain can be saved. In Thailand, 1669 (Thailand’s emergency number) calls an emergency ambulance anywhere in the country.

Stroke signs: remember four words

Other symptoms to tell an adult about right away

Symptoms that are not emergencies but still need a doctor’s visit include headaches so frequent you miss school, long-lasting hand tremor or numbness, and short spells of blanking out that you cannot remember afterwards.

Questions children love to ask brain doctors

Review12 questions

Test yourself

Correct: 0 of 12

Fancy a game on this lesson?

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