Anatomy In Motion – Finding Centre
Pain or discomfort in movement usually comes about after injury or over-exercise, or through lack of movement or chronic postural contraction or stretching.
When the body has been put under strain the brain automatically adjusts to difficulties by restricting movement in some joints and encouraging compensatory movement in others. After a while the new compensatory movement becomes and established brain pattern enduring long after the difficulty has passed. This pattern is expressed in our most natural movement, walking. Rather than being “broken” our body is making complex adjustments to help us continue to function after difficulty. In walking we see how our system as a whole, important as a change in one area causes changes in others. Using the Anatomy In Motion framework we look at the movement of the body in all the joints, focusing particularly on our gait in walking.
In AiM we look at the movement of the body in all the joints, focusing particularly on our gait in walking. We look initially at where in the body there is too much or too little movement and at the effect that has on all other areas of the body. For instance, an old injury may affect the knee, the pelvis and the spine, resulting ultimately in neck or shoulder pain. We explore methodically different ways to regain movement where there is too little, and reduce unnecessary movement where there is too much. This is to bring the joints back into their natural range of movement.
The Anatomy in Motion system allows us to scrutinize movement in all the joints in all movement planes, to balance the movement so the brain can find a way back to centred easy, functional movement.
The effect of this can be to reduce pain and discomfort caused by compensatory movement or posture, to help wider functioning of our system and bring about psychological (not so stuck!), emotional (too much holding on!) and digestive improvements.
The changes and improvements gained by balancing movement include a change in the compensatory brain patterns to easier, more efficient movement patterns. Muscle tome will balance out following changes in brain patterning.
In short
- An injury or postural difficulty introduces changes in the muscle tone and use, in order to compensate for restrictions or damage
- The compensatory movement causes a shift in our perception of centre or balance
- This compensatory movement and perception of balance becomes an established brain pattern
- Over time this causes pain or discomfort in movement
- The brain is reintroduced to efficient movement patterns
- A movement change in one joint affects the movement of all other joints
- Bit by bit this improves sequencing (the order in which muscles and joints are mobilized to make movement) as expressed through walking
- The brain’s perception of our centre, and therefore our balance of muscle tone, changes
- As our brain’s sense of balance changes, muscle tone realigns to maintain a new centre
- These new brain patterns become first familiar, then automatic and unconscious, through little and often practice
In a session we look at posture and your movement. This may include taking a video so the movements in walking can be studied in slow motion – there are a lot of joints to take into account in walking.
We reintroduce movement which has been restricted or superseded, and diminish injury related movements. This happens through short simple movement exercises which have to be practiced little and often for them to become familiar and easy to the brain, and thus replace compensatory brain movement patterns.
