One afternoon in my studio my client looked up at me through her foggy glasses and asked “why is it that the body all of the sudden starts having problems”. This particular client had been suffering from a severe adhesion in the capsule of her knee and had the other common symptoms of “getting old”. I smiled as I helped her up from stretching and asked, “what is the difference between a young child and an older adult?” As we age two main changes happen in the body: certain hormones, depending upon sex, will drop considerably and the tissues in our body become more fibrous. These facts don’t help the situation but that isn’t why the body experiences pain and limited range of motion. That animated and energetic child that is in a constant state of exploration is moving. I’m not concerned with calories or activity here but the simple movement of all joints in the body.
The ability to move a joint is called mobility. Mobility is the most underrated practice that people can do to improve their quality of life by affecting something that exists in the brain called proprioception. If you have ever watched and elderly person doing Tai Chi with complete grace and balance you are witnessing proprioception at it’s finest. This person has been practicing quality movement throughout there life and has kept their proprioception ‘in tune’. So what is the big deal about proprioception you ask?
You can think of the proprioception as a 3D map of the body in time and space, which the brain can see. The street names and notable landmarks on this map are joints. If the body moves it’s joints in all ranges of motion in which they where intended to then this map of the body stays very clear and the brain can see it perfectly. When your brain has a clear two-way connection with the body great things happen. Pain is reduced or eliminated all together. Force production and balance is increased radically due to efficient firing of the Central nervous system. The practice is simplistic but specific and the results are dramatic.
When we surrender to the scientific proven fact that the central nervous system is responsible for all of the complicated tasks that happen in the body we can begin to change the quality of live dramatically. Your brains job is to keep you alive by predicting what scenarios life will through at you. If proprioception is not working well or off line all together then movement prediction is a threat and your brain will command you to discontinue movement to that area through the signal of pain. Think about a beautiful picture maybe one that is awe inspiring with beautiful strokes and detail where every thing is differentiated, or separate from it’s counter parts, and the idea of the painting is easy to interpret. If your brain map, the way your brain views your body, is similar to this than movement is efficient, your central nervous system fires correctly making you stronger and your brain is comfortable to predict movement without having to continuously ask you to stop.
Now painting that beautiful picture is done with a special brush of movement. These brush strokes must be efficiency and have to be practiced with accuracy and control.
Once you focus in on quality movement your central nervous system re tunes itself and the brain builds new movement programs transforming what was once a confusing picture into a masterpiece. These new programs reduce threat in the CNS and movement becomes seamless what was once hard becomes autonomous. The technique I use with my clients and myself is Z-Health. It is extremely important to incorporate this practice into any exercise program for maximum performance. The effects of movement are lightning fast, 300 miles an hour to be exact. Of course there are contraindications for use of this technique but most people are able to start with the principles used wisely. Meeting with a Z-health practitioner is key to being properly assessed and understanding how to use this method correctly. Movement is medicine and once habituated life hands you less resistance.
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