Issue link: http://www.bodysensemagazinedigital.com/i/655972
8 Body Sense When movement patterns "turn off" certain muscles and "turn on" others to keep you out of pain, the design of the joint and surrounding supportive tissues is compromised. Eventually, if not addressed, a whole new challenge has replaced the original one. MASSAGE CAN WORK WONDERS, BUT YOU CAN WORK MIRACLES Every time I get a massage, I ask for additional specific work to my ankle and lower leg, which feels nothing short of scrumptious. There are many benefits to getting massage on my ankle and lower leg, including increased blood flow, softening of hard tissues, awakening of nerve sensation, and releasing of trigger points. For about two days after, the pain in my ankle is greatly reduced. But what hasn't changed is the pattern of how I walk, which I created during the last eight years. Here's the truth. Unless you are actively involved in unwinding the pattern and returning to the way the body was designed to move in space, you will only heal so much. You will eventually go back to your compensation pattern, unless you are taught how to move differently. You must be involved in retraining your body back to its optimum function utilizing muscles and surrounding tissues as they are designed to work. A SAMPLING OF THERAPIES So what are movement therapies? Of the many modalities available to choose from, here is a sampling and explanation of a few of the most commonly known. (The following descriptions are taken from the bodywork glossary at www.massagetherapy.com/glossary.) • Aston-Patterning (neurokinetics)—Aston-Patterning is an educational process developed by Judith Aston in 1977 that combines movement coaching, bodywork, ergonomics, and fitness training. The movement work (neurokinetics) has two divisions. The first part involves instruction in the most efficient way to perform the simple activities of daily living and then progresses to complex activities. The second part teaches the client how to use movement to decrease accumulated tension in the body. The practitioner uses specific assessment methods to create sequences of movement and fitness depending on the movement pattern of the client. The client's current, observable, and palpable condition, as well as history of injury, trauma, scar tissue, and habits are taken into consideration when designing the approach to repatterning. How you do what you do in every movement you create is the baseline of this work. • Trager Approach—The Trager Approach was developed more than 65 years ago by Milton Trager, MD. Two aspects make up the Trager Approach: one in which the client is passive, and the second in which the client is actively involved. The passive portion is done on a table with the client fully clothed and passively guided through effortless, natural movement in order to find restrictions and bring freedom to locked-up areas. It is a gentle approach and does not induce pain or discomfort. The active portion includes a series of movements you can easily incorporate into your daily life to more deeply root the effects of the table work as well as your own awareness within your body. Essentially, these are designed to empower you in your own healing. • Feldenkrais Method—This method establishes new connections between the brain and body through movement reeducation. Two formats of instruction are used: awareness through movement and functional integration. In the one-on-one functional integration session, a teacher uses hands-on manipulation to guide the student toward new movement patterns. Awareness through movement classes are group sessions in which the teacher verbally guides students through repatterning. Feldenkrais proposed that nearly our entire spectrum of movement is learned during our first few years of life, but that these movements represent a mere 5 percent of all possibilities available to us. Habituated responses to problem areas in our lives are ingrained in our movement patterns. By retraining the central nervous system through the skeletal system, old patterns are eliminated and replaced with new skills that improve the body's physical, mental, and emotional functioning. In this way, unconscious movement is brought into conscious awareness where it may be used as a tool for opening the human potential. True freedom from pain and discomfort can be achieved using movement therapies incorporated with consistent massage sessions.