Songbird Osteopathy - manual therapy for children and adults in Thornbury, Melbourne
  • Songbird Osteopathy
  • Book now
  • Online consults
  • About
  • Our location
  • Treatment for children
  • Treatment for adults
  • Clinic news

Herd anything new?

What exactly is functional movement?

17/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo by bruce mars from Pexels
Functional movement is the new buzzword in fitness circles, but what is it actually? This is how I have seen it being used so far:
  • In a gym setting, with light weights and elastic bands
  • Doing body-weight animal style movements like frog hopping and crawling
  • Doing exercises specific to helping with everyday movements like sitting in a chair compared to improving the maximum weight you can lift.

I've just done a course that has blown my mind in terms of what functional movement is.
Joanne Elphinston is an Australian-trained physiotherapist who has come up with a different way of how we construct movement by going all the way back to proprioception - simply put, does your brain know where your body is in space?

You may think this is too basic, but I tried this with my dodgy left ankle and realised, when I touch the outside of my foot, I feel it both on the outside and inside of my foot! Freak out moment! So, one reason I keep re-injuring my ankle is because my brain doesn't know which side of my foot is in contact with the floor.

​Joanne showed us lots of cool ways we can re-engage this brain to body connection, as well as postural cues to help muscles, joints and ligaments work more efficiently together. It's dovetails  nicely with a central tenet of osteopathy, that the body functions as one unit. While there still is a role for strengthening and stretching, it is more important to ask, "why is this structure overused and how can we get other structures to share the load?" Are there other ways to move but the brain is avoiding them out of fear or poor body awareness?

I will be practicing these techniques on myself, and am happy to keep everyone updated on my progress, but do get in touch if you are keen to give this a go for your niggles.

Here is one simple exercise you can try:
Go down on all 4s, the starting position for cat and camel. Often, we can hold too much tension in our neck and mid back. Now, imagine you are a kitten (or lion cub), being picked up gently by the scruff of your neck by the mama cat. Feel how you automatically relax through your chest and neck? Meow!

Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Follow on Insta
    PAST NEWSLETTERS

    Archives

    May 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    RSS Feed

© 2017-2022 Songbird Osteopathy

​Our privacy policy, terms of use and disclaimers

Hours

Mon (once a month only): 930am - 230pm 
Wed: 930am - 4pm
​Sat: 11am - 430pm

Telephone

0415 281 241

Address

Rear 72 Mansfield St Thornbury VIC 3071
Picture
  • Songbird Osteopathy
  • Book now
  • Online consults
  • About
  • Our location
  • Treatment for children
  • Treatment for adults
  • Clinic news