Movement changes your biochemistry to alter your physiology. Part 1
Movement is key for brain development at any age.
Bones, muscle, and fascia adapt to stress, they either grow in a healthy way where they get stronger or an unhealthy way where they can become weakened or damaged. When the bone becomes weaker it becomes more brittle, when the muscle becomes more vulnerable, wasting occurs, when fascia becomes altered, it creates systemic dysfunction.
Proper Movement is Key
A natural flow and ease in movement is the goal. Watching dancers float across the stage, the quality of movement appears light and effortless. If you can hear your footsteps walking across the floor or a shuffling sound indicates dysfunction in your stride. If you walk with your feet pointing any direction other than forward is another expression of imbalance in the fascia and the muscles. Every time an imbalance occurs there will be pain. It may take years, but at one point, the body can no longer adapt.
Improper Movement
If you continually stress a bone, for example, runners (bad form or weakness) can create a stress fracture or bone overgrowth called bone spurs. Both fractures and bone spurs create pain.
Other influences that can affect your fascia, muscles, and bones you might not think about.
Gravity is there all the time, a force that the body responds to, and we can’t fight gravity eventually every thing moves toward the earth. Movement can slow this down.
Force can be both good or bad!
As we move the forces of gravity change, for example, a month of lying in bed, can decrease muscle and bone mass, remove external force muscles and bone will not grow. When we move, the lymph moves and when this happens the body detoxes faster, bones and muscles grow. One of my fascia patients who over time lost a couple cm/inch regained height that she lost, after working with her. Releasing the fascia helped her recover the space in her body that was compressed and diminished the pain the compression was causing. Win Win
It is natural when people get injured or feel pain to stop moving and brace. For a brief period, rest is ok, but the movement is the key to proper circulation, for growth and production of healthy new cells.
My Feet Hurt
Comfortable shoes at all times is the secret
Over time gravity changes the shape of your body along with other external pressures such as friction of chairs, bed, clothing, shoes and even worse tight shoes. Improper footwear can change the shape of your foot. It can irritate or damage the nerves, fascia, and musculature of your entire body, that blister you get from your new shoes has a deeper meaning. Our body is responding to mechanical force.
What happens when you have foot pain or a foot injury? It’s not only on your foot.
Foot Pain continued
Pain compromises and changes the way you put pressure on your foot when walking you may lean forward, to the side may or even have crutches. The ankle shifts position, which puts a strain on ligaments and fascia, this strain exerts pressure on the knee, the hip, and the back. Your proprioceptors then adjust to make sure your eyes and head are positioned to keep you upright. Every system in the body is affected. The fascia molds to this new position. What tells the body it’s ok to move back to the neutral position when the pain is gone? Intentional movement, therapy, and exercise is the only way to retrain your fascia, muscles or bones.
Retraining the body happens by:
Intentional Movement Exercises–Retrains your Brain and Proprioceptors
SFT–Stretching Fascia Therapy–https://www.simonefortier.com/
Gyrotonic/Pilates – http://www.sherborrell.com/
Continue reading in Part 2. How Posture and Movement effects Hormones
Questions, please contact me info@simonefortier.com
If you missed the last blog, you could find it here