Movement – Page 2 – thinkingmoving

Pathways – Habits

August 4, 2014October 3, 2014That GuyLeave a comment

"PurkinjeCell". Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PurkinjeCell.jpg#mediaviewer/File:PurkinjeCell.jpg — “PurkinjeCell”. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PurkinjeCell.jpg#mediaviewer/File:PurkinjeCell.jpg

The more a motor pattern is undertaken, the more well trodden the pathway becomes.

The less a pathway is used the more it becomes overgrown.

You will have developed both helpful and unhelpful habits which have both laid down pathways. Maybe the unhelpful habits are remnants of a once useful habit.

Take for example an injured ankle, this will invoke a limp. Long after the injury has healed the limp may remain with the resultant tightening at the waist and the extra load on the other leg. Long after the initial injury has healed the compensatory patterns may cause other issues, the passage of time will hide the original cause.

People sense the pain but not the movement pattern causing it.

Three words.

July 14, 2014December 7, 2014That GuyLeave a comment

Whirlpool Galaxy M51 & Companion Galaxy [hs-2005-12-a-large_web]

Grace comes down to three words:

“Things moving freely”

Those three words are exhibited in the cosmos and are the way of graceful animal movement.

In the case of animal movement what is preventing graceful movement? Structural issues aside let us focus our gaze on the nervous system.

Ask yourself this question with experience and not words:

How is your nervous system holding you?

When lying down on a firm surface yield to it and see how you are lying are you holding yourself even when the unyielding surface can support you?

Ref: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2005012a/large_web/

Go Towards….

July 8, 2014December 7, 2014That GuyLeave a comment

Have you ever had pain occur when you pick something albeit small up off of the floor.

Two things come to mind:

Its probably not that incident that was the sole cause, merely it was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. A build up of tension from repeatedly doing similar activities which comes to meet a threshold, cue spasm to protect the back.
Adults often pick things up off of the floor by staying as far away from them as possible, in other words not squatting. Go towards the object instead of trying to stay upright, not just using the back but the joints of the legs also.

The paradox is what we do, to get the object we stay away when the opposite would be the better course of action.

Activities:

Can you touch the floor?

By this I mean can you touch it and not merely press or push on it?

Try getting up in different ways, varying:

Amounts of hand pressure
Amount of contact be it fingers, palm, fist…..

What do you notice happening with other parts of the body when you vary pressure and amount of contact?

Get a grip.

June 23, 2014July 27, 2014That GuyLeave a comment

Note:
Although originally published in relation to kayaking/canoeing this post is applicable to gripping in a general sense and could be applied to many things such as:

Writing: gripping of a pen, quality of handwriting and any pain
Cycling: the ability to control the bike with ease and any pain in arms, shoulders or neck.

Continuing the theme of sensitivity.

Gripping hard can cause problems (see carpal tunnel) esp when flexing and extending wrist. But that aside try this experiment seated and with an empty hand. Repeat each step a couple of times. Try with dominant hand in first instance.

Clench fist and relax.
With hand on forearm clench fist again.
With hand on Deltoid clench fist again

What do you notice when you clenched fist?

Takeaway points:

Functionally the hand starts in the forearm.
The harder you grip the tension goes up the arm and stiffens the shoulder girdle.
This tension up the arm results in less mobility when side support is required, which can result in strained shoulder/dislocations.
Try using the back when paddling forward and the arms for other strokes.
Your grip does not need to be that hard, it will prevent a fluid action.
Gripping hard will reduce your sensitivity of the paddles position in space.
So basically relax your grip when you paddle, the correct amount of tension is “enough” and no more.
What is useful tension and what is not useful tension.

Homunculus

June 22, 2014That GuyLeave a comment

The sensory motor homunculus resizes the body parts of the human being according to the amount of cortical representation it has. The hands, lips are larger and the torso is small as the amount of brain processing power devoted to that body part is less.