Whether recovering from an injury or embarking upon a new exercise routine, having some know-how of basic strength and flexibility training is important, but it’s not enough. What guides our body through movement is our brain! Sounds obvious, right? Unfortunately, the connection from our brain to our muscles and joints gets disrupted when an injury occurs, or when a person suffers from pain. Whether you blink your eye, or sprint a 50-yard dash, your muscles need to be capable of completing the task, and your brain has to tell the muscles what to do! As we perfect movements over time, the signals become automatic and we don’t even think about the task before we complete it. The system that drives the body’s ability to move is called motor control.
The motor control system is sort of like an orchestra. In an orchestra, a conductor directs individual musicians on how to play, but if you’ve ever been to the first middle school orchestra rehearsal of the year, you know that musicians don’t play all that well right off the bat! The conductor has to guide and teach the musicians so that the instruments are played properly. After a lot of practice, the song sounds as it was intended. Eventually, much of playing an instrument becomes automatic, and achieving the correct sound becomes more effortless.
Movement is the same way! The brain is a bit like the conductor and the muscles of the body are a bit like the middle school musicians. We all know that our bodies move with greater ease the more we practice certain activities. The brain is responsible for initially learning that movement. The motor control system is responsible for continuing the movement once we've learned it properly.
What happens when you hurt your back? You rest, maybe use ice or heat, and take some medication. Maybe you do some stretches you’ve learned along the way. Most of the time, the back pain is short-lived, and you can return to life as usual, but even a minor injury can disrupt the way the muscles that support your spine receive signals from your brain. Because of this, your spine is at greater risk for injury, even during everyday activities, because the muscles aren’t firing like they did before your back injury. Getting your brain to signal the muscles properly and re-teaching the muscles to contract at the right time is an essential part of establishing proper movement and avoiding injury.
Physical therapists are experts in evaluating movement, understanding correct movement patterns, and knowing which muscles should fire when, sort of like how a piano tuner would understand how to properly calibrate an instrument. Let physical therapists guide your recovery, and teach you how to use the concept of motor control to enhance your movement and let your body sing!
For more information please contact me, Beth, at Beth@JointVenturesPT.com