The Fuse Box

A Chapter from my upcoming book..."The Book On Movement"

Our Nervous System:  The “Fuse Box”

“Our body is an electrical circuit.  If we violate the rules of that electrical circuit we will lose performance or get injured unfortunately, we can’t reset our own fuse to fix it”

The human body and your standard housing dwelling have a lot in common. 

The biggest commonality is the flow of electricity to make power.  The human body is an electrical circuit just like the one in your home or apartment.  Human movement is actually is powered by electrical impulses from our brain and spinal cord.

At your home, electricity enters the house from an electrical line and is routed directly to the circuit breaker or “fuse box”.  In the human body, the electrical line “in” is our brain, which generates electrical impulses.  These impulses are sent down the path of the spinal cord, or, our own human “fuse box”.

Just like in the house, the fuse box branches off electrical lines to all the plugs in your home; the spinal cord branches off and sends nerves that directly connect to all the muscles of the body so that movement can occur.

So why is the so important?  Is actually VITAL that you understand this basic principal of how we move.

Just like electricity that comes into the fuse box and then out to the plugs, we MUST move in the same equation or sequence.  We must move from the “fuse box” the spine out to the rest of the body, our “plugs”.

Meaning any and all movement must start at the core or spine and follow a PRECISE sequential path out to the extremities or “plugs” just like electricity flows in your home. Period, No exceptions!

This is how we are designed to move.  Any deviation from this sequence will result in injury and a loss of physical performance.

Let’s look at the common row off of a Nautilus type of machine at your neighborhood gym.

You sit on the machine, grip the bar, put your chest up agains the pad…. and then…. you pull from your hands first.  Oops!  You just blew a fuse! 

Why?  You violated your body’s proximal to distal rule or fuse box to plug, or spine to arm or leg.

You moved from the hand first.  This is the furthest “plug” away from the fuse box or spine. 

We MUST move proximal (core, fuse box) to distal (extremity, plug) because that is the path of electrical impulses of the body.  BrainèSpinal Cord èExtremities.

Why is this true?  Not only is it true, it’s the law of neurological development. 

When your baby momma came home with the news that she was having you, she had an ultrasound picture of you which showed what?  A very tiny head and curled up spinal cord.  Did you see arms and legs equal to the development of the head and spinal cord?  No, because they (extremities) develop later on in a precise neurological sequence of human development.

If we violate this development, by moving in the wrong or almost backwards sequence, its not if, but when, you will get hurt.

Back to that row, now lets insert the proper neurological sequence.

Sit, grip the bar, chest against pad…move proximal (closet to the spine) to distal. 

1.     Simply start the motion with the muscles closest to the spine and move in sequence out to the hands.

2.     Depress and squeeze your shoulder blades down and in towards your spine.  Almost like putting your shoulder blades into opposite back pockets of your favorite jeans.

3.     Allow the shoulder to follow, then the elbow and lastly the hand ending in the exact same position as the first row.

Now you have moved in perfect neurological sequence promoting healthy movements rather than unhealthy movements.

Once you are aware of this proper sequence, you will soon see that you violate it with most every action you do.  This is one of the main reasons that you are injured and losing performance.

The good news is as you continue to read on, you will become more award of how and why you are supposed to move and have the solution to fix or improve your motion so that you stay healthy.