Consciously moving in the right direction
Understanding Human Movement - Part 1
The human body is a complex organism that relies on several interconnected systems functioning in synchronicity with one another to accomplish desired tasks.
That’s it - that’s about as short and sweet of an answer I can give you folks to sum up the very nature of how we, as humans, move. Please, take a step back and realize that within that single sentence, there are literally an endless number of possibilities that can happen when humans are trying to get things accomplished. We need to move to be able to do so!
In this upcoming series about human movement basics, my goal is to be able to enlighten and explain to everyone, on a nominal level, the importance of understanding human movement and how/why it can be SO complex. Through this series, we’ll go through a lot of different topics and trains of thought regarding human movement, and certain concepts that I think - are ultimately under appreciated by the general population.
The Brain’s Role
To be able to explain how and why people should be moving a certain way, I need to break down the neural pathways of how movement patterns are selected. Easiest way to break it down:
Sensory information is delivered to the brain to process and organize every detail about a desired movement, and the brain will send signals to the appropriate muscle groups to act accordingly based on the task/goal/environment/individual.
Sensory (IN) -> BRAIN -> Motor (Out) -> movement
Certainly, there’s a lot more that happens on a molecular level, but I actually want people to be interested when they read this, so I will spare you all.
Lack of Body Awareness
Part of my job is to be able to analyze how and why an individual is moving a particular way. Why is that person leaning to the right every time they take a step with their left leg? How come that person’s neck looks like a turtle when they’re bench pressing? Does that girl really have to arch her back in front of the mirror like that when she’s curling 5 pound weights? These are all very real questions that pop into my head routinely when I observe people moving around. The crazy thing is – most of the time these people don’t even realize they’re doing it.
It always amazes me when I’m working with patients that genuinely have no sense of body or spatial awareness i.e. people that do a “plank” with their pelvis in a jackknife position. How is it possible you have no idea that you’re sticking your butt that high up in the air? It makes me cringe to see people working with trainers, coaches, even other physical therapists (none that I hang with), doing those sorts of things. We owe it to our patients to be on top of them and coach them through every particular movement we’re asking them to do – and with that, we need to make sure that they feel, understand, and can correct their movements without our help. That’s the true sign of motor learning – autonomy, consistency, and correct-ability.
In my experience, a lot of patients/people that I’ve interacted with don’t seem to have an awareness of how they’re moving. They function at a subconscious/unconscious level of moving, typically because they’re able to move around without a significant disturbance/threat to safety, there’s not really much of a need to actively think about HOW we are moving. For instance, think of the last time you tweaked your back. I bet you didn’t put your shoes on the same way that you did when your back didn’t bother you! But does that mean you were even doing it right in the first place? My point is this – in the presence of pain or a perceived threat to our safety, we move differently and we are a million times more aware of how we are moving. My goal is to be able to help people think about, and appreciate how they are moving at all times! Certainly it shouldn’t take up 100% of your mental capacity/attention, but you damn well better recognize it if you’re not putting your shoes on the right way.
Having an understanding and an awareness of where our body’s joints are in space is a sense called proprioception. Basically, proprioceptors are tiny signaling cells in every joint in our body that respond to change in joint angles/position/velocity, and they communicate with our brain about where our bodies are, relative to our perception of our midline/center of gravity. Try this real quick – close your eyes, turn your head to the right, and open up. Did you realize that your head had oriented to the right even with your eyes closed and weren’t surprised to see that when you opened them up? Thank your proprioceptors for that!
After someone sustains an injury, or within the presence of pain, this sensory information is being altered on its way up to the brain. The brain can’t interpret the signals coming in from the proprioceptors, so the movement pattern the brain selects may not be the most efficient one. Using the example of turning your head to the right, imagine someone who’s having a lot of neck pain with movement. Their neck mobility is limited, they have really tight muscles in the neck, shoulders, and upper back. If they were to perform the same basic movement as you just did, they may have no idea where their head is oriented to, or exactly how far away their eye level is from midline – all the result of a faulty sensory/motor processing system.
Restoring Awareness
Part of my job is to be able to restore that person’s neck mobility, improve the efficiency of the way they move their neck, and help them to consciously understand, feel, and appreciate how they should be moving. By being consciously aware of how we’re moving at all times, we’re all taking steps towards being more athletic, and living healthier lives.
