Constructing Movement
Movement is created via a number of interconnected motions that produce an average of what we see. Every part of our body contributes to the complete movement. Joint by joint, we produce a global pattern. If a movement becomes difficult, or one aspect of our body cannot produce the desired pattern, compensations develop. There is no inherent harm in this strategy, however if it becomes the only strategy then we could get in trouble. My job as a physical therapist is to attempt to find the region contributing to the immobility and restore its ability to contribute to the whole.
The foot is often a good place to start in terms of movement restoration. It can typically be found to reveal the global strategy being utilized, and it is easily accessible. So, in the video below, I am attempting to restore mechanics that have become limited. That is to reconstruct movement availability. By altering the shape of the foot, the entire body can reorganize around the new movement options and potentially improve motion on a larger scale.
After the manual intervention, one activity prescribed was a cable chop. This movement not only promotes the ability to access the foot position developed by my hands previously, but the weight of the exercise is off-loading the body. Meaning, the cable is lifting the body from the ground and may allow the client to attain the position achieved with the manual intervention. That position creates rotation, to the left, as is apparent in the video. Without the initial manual work, that would have been harder to access.
The final activity is one of speed but mimics the cable chop and amplifies the foot position we sought in the very first video. The med ball slam creates left rotation again, the cues are to find a heavy left heel and that creates the rotational movement pattern. A high velocity brings a new challenge, how quickly can she attain the position without compensatory movement?
Each of these interventions is additive. The manual input provides the sensation for a new movement strategy. The slow, unloaded chop aids in the active creation of a new motion and the velocity component challenges the timing. Construction, piece by piece, to build a new capability.
Austin Ulrich, Physical Therapist
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