“When we consider that the human body has almost 800 muscles, and that all of them are well stocked with sensory cells, we can appreciate why our wellbeing depends on sensory information fed back to our brains by our muscles. ”
In this, the last of this three part blog, I’m hoping you’ll be able to spot the signs of what we refer to in Somatics as the “Trauma Reflex” and how regaining control of this reflex will help you avoid (amongst other things) hip and knee replacements.
Whereas the Green Light Reflex relates to the back of the body, the Red Light the front of the body, the Trauma Reflex relates to the sides, creating a tilt, affecting walking and balance. The muscles in the side of the body, in particular, the waist muscles contract when we swerve to avoid something such as a side-on car collision or a blow, avoidance of being hurt or a fall, when we lose our balance, slip or go over on an ankle.
When the waist muscles contract, not only does this pull the side of the ribcage and shoulder down, but it also hitches up the hip, creating an imbalance in the pelvis; ever been told you have one leg shorter than the other? Could well be that you actually have waist muscles tighter on one side, creating the illusion of a shorter leg.
How does this culminate in hip or knee surgery? If the hip is higher, it compresses and pulls up the femur into the hip socket, causing pain, tightness in the groin and wear and tear on the hip socket, it also keeps the same side knee bent and holds the muscles around the hip and waist tight, restricting movement, it also means that you will weight bear more onto that side and this is compounded when walking as the foot has further to land, further stressing the knee and hip joints.
In addition any pain, breaks or surgery to a leg or foot results in the need to avoid weight bearing on that side and leaning to the opposite side, tighten the waist muscles (and back). Surgery and breaks to an arm, if pinned or strapped can tighten the muscles around the arm and shoulder, pulling the shoulder down, overtime this can limit range of movement, making reaching up and behind impossible one of the contributing factors of a “frozen shoulder”. Everyday actions and habits will also contribute to one hip being higher or a shoulder lower, twisting the body, contributing to neck, shoulder, back, hip and knee pain, you can read more about that how how this can culminate in Scoliosis, you can read more about that in this blog here
How to Regain Control, Improve Posture and Reduce Pain
Do you recognise any of the three reflex pattens in you? I’d be surprised if you did not have an element of one, if not all three to some degree, this is because we are sensory beings. What we do, feel, think, see and hear filters though our nervous system and our muscles contract in response. Repeated enough those muscles will hold tight and become “banked” into the lower part of the brain - the sub cortex, meaning we are no longer in full control of our muscles or movement.
Somatics consists of neuromuscular movements that re-educates your brain to muscle, bringing your muscles back online and in control in the higher part of your brain, the sensory motor cortex. Not by stretching or strengthening (these techniques do not educate your brain to let go of the holding of the tight muscles, in fact they can actually strengthen the pattern of holding - often making you feel more restricted and increase your pain).
In Somatics we use a technique called “Pandiculation” - you begin to ragain control by making your tight muscles tighter than they already are - this sends a strong signal to the sensory motor cortex, like flicking on a light switch, then releasing that contraction slowly which relaxes the muscle followed by a pause to integrate that change. It’s a simple, natural and effective technique.
In Class This week - The Thighs Have it!
Focusing on releasing the quads, hamstrings, outer hip and IT band, for better balance, stability and and lightness in walking.
Last Weeks’ Class - Looking around with more Ease
This is now in the On-Demand Library and you can access it here
Did you know?
If you are not a Founder Member and or cannot attend my live online classes you can still access the on-demand library with this membership here.
If you have any questions, feedback or comments, please get int touch - liz@intelligent-movement.co.uk
Liz 💕🙏🏻