Are you limited by chronic pain?

Headaches or migraines?

Sciatica or Herniated Disc?

Do your knees, ankles or hips hurt when you run?

Are you in great shape but suffering from pain?

Do you often attempt to exercise but experience back or neck pain? 

Have you been told you may need surgery or orthotics?

These are just a few common issues for people in today's society.  Improper coordination of muscle memory can lead to many of these issues.  Past injuries, work related repetition, single-sport repetition, laziness, sitting for long periods of time - all can create imbalance within the body.  

Simply put, muscle memory is the shape, form and function that we embody.

Muscle memory occurs when a person repeatedly moves the same way over and over again, until finally, that movement becomes a reflex or habit.  In fact, it becomes so automatic that a person may not even realize that he/she is moving in a certain manner. 

Muscle memory influences our posture, gait and mannerisms.  Even one's thoughts and feelings (both positive and negative) translate into movement.  This is very powerful to understand - our physique, performance and psyche are for better or for worse intertwined and greatly influenced by our habitual actions and thoughts. Stay with me here!  This is great stuff...

Muscles coordinate with each other.  The seemingly simple movement of raising your hand over your head fires many different muscles in your body from head to toe. The figure to the right demonstrates what a balanced human form looks like.  If your posture does not look similar to this, then chances are your muscles that have the strongest memory or patterned movement are keeping your body out of alignment.

It is easy to imagine many different muscle memory "programs" that can accumulate due to constant use - playing, working, sitting, exercising, cooking, driving, athletics, carrying children, housework, walking and even watching television or typing on the computer - the list is endless.  We demand a lot from our bodies!  

I will use an analogy to illustrate why alignment is so important.   Similar to demands we make on our bodies, we also demand relentless service from our automobiles.  Periodic wheel alignment adjustment for a car is considered routine maintenance.  If you do not align your front wheels, your tires wear unevenly, stress is placed on the CV joints, the transmission and engine and fuel efficiency is compromised.  Misalignment of wheels will occur due to many factors including being in an accident, excessive rough handling or just regular use of a vehicle.   The human body is no different when it comes to alignment and muscle memory.  Your muscle memory dictates the alignment in your body.   An imbalance in muscle memory in your lower leg will affect everything above of it. Persistent shoulder or pelvic elevations, rotated hips and torsos and constant weight bearing on one side of the body all will lead to stressed or damaged ligaments, nerves, tendons, cartilage, and many other conditions.  

BUT...this structural relationship in the body is the key to how we can get out of pain too.  By restoring proper balance to the body we are able to achieve proper coordination and muscle memory.  Balanced alignment allows proper function.

You don’t have to be married to your pain.  It is a message that something is not right in the ecosystem of your body.  What happens so often with us these days is that we ignore that pain and try to push through it - which can be considered admirable in our culture - after all, we still need to get to our jobs, take care of the kids, play our sports etc.

But this suppression of pain can lead to more and more compensations in the body.  The compensations lead to improper muscle memory, and then poor posture and function follow until, ultimately, we experience a loss of enjoyment from life.  This is perhaps most tragic for me to see - the untapped potential trapped behind pain.

Choose a Pain-Free life