Re: Movements not Muscles and postural correction

[Guest guest]

Mel Siff wrote:

<I am simply referring to natural, uncontrived exercises, such

as those found abundantly in daily life, sport and in the gym

environment being executed in a progressively more stressful manner

starting from the least stressful and most limited conditions.

After all, when we talk about so-called " functionality " , we are

referring to the individual being able to efficiently, safely and

painlessly carry out all of those types of activity, so why not use

those activities in a very controlled and progressive manner to

provide the most " functional training " of all?>

Dax Moy:

Dr Siff,

I myself have followed this approach with my own clients in order to

regain 'functionality' after injury or as a result of postural

distortion.

For quite some time I have convinced myself that this approach was

superior to the 'traditional' protocols, though recently I am not so

sure.

What I have found (and I will be the first to concur that this is

purely anecdotal) is that many 'functional' training protocols

(including the method you suggest) create excellent short-term

improvement in function upon the surface yet may not address

the 'dysfunctional' joint and soft tissues.

An example of this is a client who, like the client mentioned at the

start of this thread, had knee pain upon ascent/descent of stairs.

Also like the example, internal hip rotation was evident with over-

pronation as a result.

After following 'functional' protocols the alignment problem appeared

to improve and pain disappeared entirely. This would appear to be a

success story, but it is not. The client has since suffered several

MCL sprains despite their improved function.

[sprain of a ligament, not a joint?? How did you determine " function " of a

ligament in isolation from all other soft tissues in active movement?

I believe that this 'functional illusion' may be a result of the

body's amazing compensatory facility. In order to provide the

movements that we are demanding from a dysfunctional body, the body

somehow 'skips' the weak links or at least places more emphasis on

the other links in the chain responsible for the movement pattern.

Were this the case, the movements would appear normal (the other

joints/muscles are working overtime) yet the weak links would always

remain the weak link and possibly even weaker by comparison.

This is a clear case of where 'non-functional' or isolation exercise

may be superior to the 'all singing, all dancing' functional

movements that many of us (myself included) rave about. By focusing

on single joint or 'weak link' training prior to integrated multi

joint movements it may be that we can provide superior results to

those that are currently being achieved.

[Your brief description of a single case has not provided any evidence

that is " clear " . Moreover, even a totally healthy or well-rehabilitated

body can produce apparent evidence of " abnormality " because of several

factors such as inadequate motor skill or fear of pain or stress. Mel Siff]

This may be one of those exceptions where 'movements not muscles' is

not the best way to progress our clients.

Dax Moy

London

[Guest guest]

Mel Siff wrote:

<[sprain of a ligament, not a joint??...]

I'm a bit confused...how could a sprain be of anything but a

ligament? Certainly joint instability may be present in second &

third degree sprains, but my understanding is that a sprain is by

*definition* ligamentous trauma. ??

Jen Armstrong

Portsmouth NH