PAIN - HYPERMOBILITY - PERFORMANCE - BREATHING PATTERNS - TMJ (JAW) - FASCIA - BIOTENSEGRITY - RECOVERY
SINUSES - REHAB/PREHAB - ANATOMY TRAINS - STRESS - MEDICAL CONDITIONS - INJURIES - PERFORMING ARTS
PROPRIOCEPTION - BIOMECHANICS - POSTURE - SPORT - REMEDIAL - PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES - MAINTENANCE
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PERFORMANCE SOFT TISSUE THERAPY
BTEC Level 5: NLSSM, 2013
- NOT JUST ANY SPORTS AND REMEDIAL MASSAGE -
HELPING PEOPLE SINCE 2013
Know Your Body
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SECTION 6
ALIGNMENT
6.1: ALIGN AND BE MORE THAN FINE
So now you know more about how the body works, how does it all fit together to create the complete puzzle? Nobody likes to be ‘all the gear and no idea’, so this section is all about how to apply all of this information to yourself.
– this section therefore explains how we do this so you will be able to do this yourself somewhat, but also increase your knowledge and understanding for what decent therapy involves. The regulation of the health and fitness industry is relatively poor, Kim alone has had many experiences of poor treatment and has seen numerous clients who have experienced this in the past, you may have experienced this yourself, so one aim of this platform is to raise the standards of what YOU expect, reducing the likelihood of such experiences.
NOTE: THESE ARE GENERAL NOTES FOR YOU TO IMPLEMENT. IF YOU WANT A MORE IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS SO YOU CAN IMPLEMENT IT BETTER, THERE IS THE OPTION TO SEE KIM IN CLINIC, KIM CAN COME TO YOU, OR YOU CAN BOOK AN ONLINE VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH KIM. FURTHERMORE, KIM HAS A GLOBAL NETWORK OF HIGHLY REPUTABLE PROFESSIONALS, AND IS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO ADD TO THE NETWORK, SO KIM MAY ALSO BE ABLE TO RECOMMEND A PROFESSIONAL IN YOUR LOCAL AREA.
NOTE: THESE ARE NOTES FOR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE. THE STRONGER YOU BECOME WITH IMPROVED ALIGNMENT, THE MORE ABLE YOU WILL BECOME TO PERFORM DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE IN SQUATS, THE HEAVIER YOU GO, THE MORE OUTWARD ROTATED THE FEET NEED TO BE, HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE WEAK WHEN SQUATTING WITH FEET STRAIGHT, YOU WILL BE WEAK WITH FEET ROTATED OUT – DO NOT FORGET THE BASICS, AND RATHER MAKE SURE YOUR FOUNDATIONS ARE STRONG FIRST.
INSIGHT (REQUIRES 2 PEOPLE):
To help people understand how simple postural changes can either help or reduce balance, Kim has a little trick and is based on the big toe to hip relationship.
To start, stand facing each other close enough to touch their shoulders. One of you moves your feet so they are pointing outwards, and the other GENTLY pushes them backwards on the shoulders and see how good balance is with feet pointing out. The person with the feet pointing outwards then points them inwards, and the other again GENTLY pushes them backwards on the shoulders and see how good balance is with the feet positioning compared to feet pointed outwards.
The concept is that balance SHOULD be better with feet pointed inwards (not necessarily the case all the time such as hypermobility can impact how well this works ). This therefore highlights the importance of alignment – and how this works will all be explained in this section!
Collagen fibres have a triple-helix structure[i][ii] which influences and creates multi-directional layers that enables absorption of pressures from a variety of directions, yet through repetitive movement patterns, more fibres will be formed and will align to the direction of strain[iii]. Put this in conjunction with poor posture which generally creates poor biomechanics, more collagen fibres will be lay down augmenting the poor posture and biomechanics. Therefore, dysfunction in posture and biomechanics can cause dysfunction in the fascia by increasing friction and thus reduce proprioception due to restricted movement.
[i] Shoulders, M. D., & Raines, R. T. (2009). Collagen structure and stability. Annual review of biochemistry, 78, 929-958. Doi: 10.1146/annurev.biochem.77.032207.120833
[ii] Brodsky, B., & Persikov, A. V. (2005). Molecular structure of the collagen triple helix. In Advances in protein chemistry (Vol. 70, pp. 301-339). Academic Press. Doi: 10.1016/S0065-3233(05)70009-7
[iii] Vader, D., Kabla, A., Weitz, D., & Mahadevan, L. (2009). Strain-induced alignment in collagen gels. PloS one, 4(6).
6.2: ALIGNMENT: HOW TO APPLY IT TO YOU
Ulitimately, alignment includes ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles, and a 'plum line' can be useful to help measure this. As discussed, you will be aware that how you hold your head can impact pressure in the lower back, and how the position of your pelvis can impact pressures in the upper back, neck and head. Thus, how you hold yourself in gravity can impact structural and biomechanical pressures. It is all connected!
You are about to be taken through the various parts of the body to enable you to apply the end objective more subjectively. This is VITAL because it will help you apply subjective techniques which help tailor your posture improvement and training specifically to you, for you. At the end of this Section, you will get insight into how to apply these various parts for overall alignment. Feel free to just read the parts which are more relevant to you, however, by reading through them all not only will you will be able to understand the final part of putting it all together, but you will be able to help prevent potential future pain or injury elsewhere. If you do something, you may as well do it properly the first time, and plus, you will find it all helpful for the test at the end.
NOTE: If you have pain, aches, or weakness in one or more areas of the body, this section will help you advance your understanding on how to improve your situation yourself through simple postural and biomechanical changes. Consider it this way, the pain/ache/weakness is there due to something, and it will continue until positive change has been made, to which MSK pain can be both eased and somewhat prevented through better posture and biomechanics - thus, positive change. So let's get going with positive change...
LOWER BODY
feet and ankles, and knees, including ankle sprains, toe deviations, knee stability and knee ligaments
HIPS AND PELVIS
Iliopsoas, glutes, postural pelvic deviations, including leg length discrepancies, Sciatica, Sports Hernia
TORSO
abdominals, rib cage, and spine including spondylolisthesis and spinal deviations with associated back pain
UPPER BODY
elbows and wrists, shoulders, neck, and head/skull including carpal tunnel, rotator cuff and stress headaches
HYPERMOBILITY
SO NOW YOU KNOW WHAT ALIGNMENT MEANS TO EACH AREA OF THE BODY, SO LETS PUT IT ALL TOGETHER FOR OVERALL ALIGNMENT
ALIGNMENT: CONCLUSION
IF THERE WAS NOT A TOPIC COVERED THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN, PLEASE STATE BELOW IN THE COMMENTS AND/OR BOOK AN ONLINE CONSULTATION FOR A MORE IMMEDIATE SOLUTION
DONE!
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