Sourdough

My wife makes tremendous sourdough bread, granted I’m biased, but it’s fabulous. I’ve watched her prepare bread numerous times, and every time she is working with the dough I find myself intrigued, and it struck me the other day as to why. The dough is a rough representation of most tissues in our body. The elastic nature of it allows for it to be shaped and molded. The more it gets worked the more rigid it becomes. Apply the same pressure to it repeatedly and its shape becomes steadfast.

The pliability of biological tissues is a characteristic that is often overlooked. Collagen particularly has incredible adaptability, lending itself to changes in shape that are unique. By and large, we are made up of salt water and collagen, with some tissues comprising more dense and rigid collagen proteins than others. The elastic nature of it is the most fascinating part. Collagen stores and releases energy like a rubber band, or like fresh dough being prepped for a loaf of sourdough.

Imagine that dough for a minute. If you poke it once with firm pressure there is an indentation, but once you release your pressure the dough returns to its original shape.  However, leave that pressure in place for an hour, and the dough molds itself around your finger and there is a new shape that wasn’t there initially. The elastic nature of the dough stored the information from the pressure and managed it by changing its shape. Collagen does the exact same thing.

When we apply forces or energy or provide information to our bodies, we absorb it and alter our shape to accommodate it. This is how we retain an understanding of our environment and adapt to it. Weightlifting, training for a marathon or working at a desk for hours informs our bodies of what we need to do in order to be successful. We change our shape to accommodate the environmental pressures. Those changes are always an attempt to facilitate an advantage of some sort. We are more capable of change than we think we are. Apply the right pressure and watch as we morph from amorphous to accommodative.

Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist