Explaining my understanding of human movement

We have this notion that our bodies have set paths that our muscles must use to execute movements. But this is not how we move. If we did and an injury occurred, like severely injuring an ankle, we would not be able to limp because there is only one path the ankle can move in and now that path is unavailable. This could be very detrimental because you have lost the ability to walk and possibly to survive. The fact that we can limp is an example that there can’t be a set path to any action, but that there are many that can be recruited out of necessity.

The choice of which path to use happens because of an immediate need and the capacity for learned adaptation. You learn to adapt your gait to the injury of the ankle, your present state and its needs, so you can still get around. Your system will use this adaptation until another one is required or learned. In other words, once the ankle is healed you will need to learn another adaptation to release you from the present limp pattern.  The healed tissue is not enough to signal your system that you no longer need to limp. You must unlearn the limp and relearn the new gait relative to your new state. There is no "going back to the way it was before the injury", but a new adaptation of the use of the ankle in its healed state.  Your nervous system can learn new paths of movement and utilized on demand.

In a controlled bodywork session, the approach is threefold:

1) observing and learning how the ankle is working in motion,

2) using manual manipulation to bring the tissue to its full capacity and

3) teaching it, in its new state, how to move efficiently

then noticeable change can occur.
 

My bodywork sessions can be a controlled adaptive learning experience for you. The inflammation and strain are reduced; the healed tissue has greater ability to perform and is receptive to learning how to adapt to a new efficient action (e.g. no longer having the injury patterned). Bodywork helps the tissue heal and have greater capacity to perform.  The movement work helps your system learn to adapt, move & act efficiently.