Anatomy In Motion – Finding Centre

Pain or discomfort in movement usually comes about after injury or over-exercise, or through lack of movement.  It can also be caused by chronic postural contraction or stretching.

When the body has been put under strain the brain automatically adjusts by restricting movement in some joints, and encouraging compensatory movement in others. After a while, the new compensatory movements become established brain patterns, remaining long after the original difficulty has passed. These patterns are expressed in our most natural movement, our 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 functions as a whole, rather than looking at isolated movements.  This is important, because we know that 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.

First we identify in the body where there is too much or too little movement.   We then look 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 go about it methodically to explore different ways to regain movement where there is too little, and reduce unnecessary movement where there is too much. In this way we can bring the joints back into their natural range of movement.

The Anatomy in Motion system allows us to scrutinize and balance movement in all the joints in all movement planes, so the muscles can realign, and 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 better functioning of our whole system, and bring about psychological (not so stuck!), emotional (less holding on!) and digestive improvements.