Full Circle Digital Magazine August 2013

LET’S GET PHYSICAL • STEVE BAZZEA Movement by Steve Bazzea (With thanks to Kelly Starrett and his amazing book – Becoming a Supple Leopard) I am always fascinated by how young children at the ages 1 to 3 years move; there is a flawless integration of movement patterns that allows the child to be biomechanically efficient. Unfortunately, not many carry this form into childhood, adolescence and less so, into adulthood. As I watch people move, I am made aware of how so many abuse their bodies through incorrect movement patterns and lifestyle choices, and then believe it is ok to have limited range in many everyday tasks that can be overridden by a dysfunctional tolerance. Unfortunately, this tolerance has a breaking point that impacts massively on how you are going to tread on this earth; light, nimble and pain-free, or heavy and painful. Most of the typical musculoskeletal dysfunction that people have is preventable. When thinking about movement dysfunction, it’s useful to classify pain and injury in four categories. Two percent of movement dysfunction can be attributed to: Dysfunction This is not unlike being able to temporarily get away with driving your car with no oil in the engine or with a flat tire. You can get away with it, it just gets expensive. Your body will always default to a” secondary” system of stabilization. Open-Circuit Faults include: Over tension This is essentially a tissue-based mechanical system overload on one area that could impact another area. Remember the song; “knee bone connected to the thigh bone, the thigh connected to the hip bone....” If you are a runner and your running mechanics is compromised because of a tight Achilles (heel cord), there is a good chance your knee is also affected due to the tightness of the calve muscle pulling on the ankle. This can be easily remedied by addressing position and rangeof-motion restrictions. Rounded back Shoulders rolled forward Overextended lumbar spine Feet turned out Head tilted up or down Elbows flared out Herein lies the problem: We have confused functionality with physiology. Positions that have served us functionally— like jumping and landing with feet like a duck’s—quickly become a liability when speed, load, or fatigue is introduced. Sure, you can lift heavy loads with a rounded back for a long, long time, but at some point your tissues will fail, resulting in some kind of injury. The implications of this concept are incredible. Most of the knee injuries in the world are…preventable, especially in children. Most of the shoulder dislocations we see are…preventable. Most of the herniated disks we see are…preventable. You just have to know what the stabilizing and bracing positions are. And, you have to practice them. Every day... That means even as you are sitting right now. 1. Pathology ( something serious is going on with your system – organ infection, disease, etc.) (impact related injuries) 2. Catastrophic injury For these two categories it is advised (and insisted upon!) that you see a physician. The other 98% of typical movement dysfunction can be attributed to preventable categories of: Open-circuit faults This category encompasses the injuries one encounters through open-circuit movements and exercises (movements without a stabilising brace of support) – in order to move efficiently one needs functional movement to be braced and stabilized from the core to the sleeve, from the trunk to the periphery - the circuits are closed—spine, hip and shoulder are stable and braced. The problem is that the body will always be able to generate force, even in poor positions. 3. Over tension (missing range-of-motion) (moving in a bad position) 4. Open-circuit faults So what does this mean? FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE AUGUST 2013

Full Circle Digital Magazine August 2013 | Page 38