Guiding clear signals and sending information reliably is difficult, and the static that accumulates between source and receiver is critical. When we move, information travels from one location to another, interpreted by our brain which sends a signal back out. Any interruption in this process and communication between regions begins to break down.

Having a point with which to fixate on is key for how you move. The fixation point can be a psychological point of focus or literally fixing a body part and using it as a point of reference. Movement relies on this principle maybe more than any other. There must be a point with which everything else is centered around. This creates the concept of relativity and may be the most fundamental aspect of everything we do.

We all deserve something better from our providers. Whether it be a phone call at the end of the day to check on a patient, or the extra effort during a treatment session to really make a change. Those characteristics are what we are looking for in our medical professionals. That effort to be better, the dynamic doctor that goes above and beyond.

One key ability is to know how their opponent thinks about them and their own strategies. This degree of strategy and vision sets them apart from most other players in the world and it is a fundamental understanding of how the whole chess board operates from move to move. Short-sighted individuals end up playing checkers.

There are a number of factors to consider with training variations.  Frequency of sessions, duration, speed of the movements, intensity and volume of the activities. Each one of these dials can be tuned to the appropriate setting, depending on the intention. They all influence how tissues are loaded and to what degree we experience pain-free movement.

Your body regenerates. Think about that for a minute. In the presence of injury or just by living life, your body requires constant maintenance whereby it regenerates itself. This is remarkable. Imagine for a minute that you could drop a glass on the floor, it breaks into pieces, but with enough time it is able to put itself back together. Our universe would be completely different if this were the case, yet our bodies are able to do just that.

Having flat feet has been a perceived problem for decades, maybe longer. The idea being that if you do not have an arch in your foot, you must have some sort of deficiency that reduces your ability to perform in physical competition. The more realistic way to look at flat feet is to examine the overall shape up the foot and how it supports a given activity. The closer the arch is to the ground, the closer it is to take off.

The shape of a person is a wealth of information. As a physical therapist this is invaluable and may help a patient get back to where they want to be. Shape may be a larger determinant than any other measure.

Pay attention, exceed expectations and become the best in the world.

The time and attention paid to maintaining a capability will most likely pay dividends in the long-term. The sacrifice now, promotes the freedom to choose later.

Einstein’s theory of gravity is widely considered one of the best theories to date. It describes the curvature of our environment and how it warps things to create our experience of gravity. Everything follows this principle, including human beings.

Space is the initial requirement for movement, without it nothing happens. It sets the stage for a gradient to be possible and gradients are the foundation of motion. We all move around by creating and shifting pressures. For that to even be possible we must have a space to work within.

On the fringes of movement-based medicine there are those that study visceral movement, gut movement. Manipulation of this aspect of anatomy has been studied for quite a while, however, it has fallen into the “witchcraft” folder of medical interventions. Interestingly, when organs fail, they have stopped moving.

Repeated pressurization or constant tension on tissue can often result in problems. In some way, shape, or form our tissues require nutrition which arrives in the form of blood flow. Should we shunt that, things can get rather uncomfortable. Soft tissue knots and bone spurs are the first things that come to mind.

The repeated practice of walking when we first learned helped us find a successful way to do so. We fell down a number of times in the process which provided us the information needed to learn how not to walk. The same rules apply when pain develops.

Assessing range of motion is a common test provided by a multitude of health care providers. Understanding that nothing moves in isolation should deter most from the idea that one joint is the cause of a problem. The test actually reveals possibility. A distilled interpretation of a very complex system.

Now let’s say you apply pressure to the same region repeatedly, to the point where the skin of said balloon starts to become thin. Water slowly starts to make its way out of the balloon into the surrounding environment. No biggie for a while, shift the pressures again and it moves back inside the balloon. If enough water moves out however, it can reach a critical point where the momentum carries a significant portion away from the center.

The vertebrae in your neck attach to the base of your head, and if those vertebrae are not moving sufficiently that may place focal stresses anywhere they attach to. An example that resonates with most folks is the position we all tend to acquire as we sit at a computer for long periods of time. Some parts of your neck may sink forward, while your head fails to keep up, compressing the back of your head down toward your neck.

Pain is a focal point when it arrives, sometimes there is no ability to focus on anything else. One way to reimagine the experience is to consider all of the other areas of your body that are not in pain. How might they be complicit in the sensation?

The decision to sacrifice today’s mode of thinking and proceed with a new course of action might make all the difference.