Can you imagine beginning 4th grade without passing 1st? Or attending medical school without Chemistry 101? It seems ridiculous, right? Yet people consistently train without first mastering one of the most significant prerequisites: standing appropriately. Standing seems so simple and...

As we learn more about neuroscience and the plasticity of the human brain, it becomes clear how our brains are constantly adapting to our experiences. The brain has limited real estate, and pathways that fire often are given priority. When...

With the limited movement, postural distortion, and chronic pain that often accompany old age, it’s easy to see why people put so much stock in the notion that aging itself is the cause of physical degeneration. In his book, Somatics,...

The answer is a resounding, Yes! Efficient movement is a rhythmic dance between opposing muscles. As one muscle shortens to create movement at a joint, the muscle on the opposite side of that joint must lengthen to enable the movement...

When we experience tension, it often is not the muscles that are the issue but the nervous system signaling them to lock up and “protect.”⁠ ⁠ In order to avoid a perceived risk of injury, our nervous systems will take...

We have all heard of the placebo effect occuring with pills and other medicines, and according to a 2002 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine it may even apply to surgery too. Performed at the Baylor School...

⁠ Well, the answer is “it depends.” I think most therapists and doctors would agree that active therapy is in the patient’s best interest and that eventually it is necessary to introduce movement into the treatment progression. Many patients, however,...

When called upon to complete a task, the brain sends between 50 and 80 pulses per second of electrical signals to the muscle through the nerves. The muscles contract, relax, and the task is complete. Simple enough, right? ⁠ ⁠...

Let’s think about the “hardware” of the body being the bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles and the nervous system as the “software” that runs that hardware.⁠ ⁠ When injuries occur, we often pay a lot of attention to the rehabilitation...

Your knee hurts, and you are wondering why. Is it how you’re sitting, your mattress, your walking gait, your shoes? Is it related to the shoulder injury you had 3 years ago? How far down the rabbit hole have you...