Movement is Math!

This is a chapter from my upcoming book:  "The Book on Movement, Vol1"

Movement is Math

“Movement is math.  The body follows a sequential series of steps in every movement.  If any part of this movement is wrong, the whole movement is wrong, just like a math equation."

                                                                                              -Dr. Kevin McGovern, PT

The human body will always do what you tell it to do.  But, the problem is that the human body will always do what you tell it to do!

Simply put , the body is an amazing tool with tremendous fortitude to get the job done at any cost.

We all remember our Algebra teacher who graded us on the equation not just getting the correct answer.  Even if by the Grace of God you got the right answer, if the work done in the equation was not correct then the answer was wrong.  This is the exact same rule for human movement.  If any part of the movement is wrong, despite how good the finish may look, it’s wrong.

The body will always get the FINAL answer correct but the equation or sequence of movements is most often wrong or I would not have a job.  Basically the body will move through dysfunction at any cost to get the final answer or the job done.  That is what makes the body the best and worst machine ever made.

I call this “functionally dysfunctional”.  The body knows the correct way to move but falls into very bad habits of poor movement, which directly lead to injury and poor performance.

These poor movements, to a greater or lesser extent, are the cause of ALL injury including trauma.

What?  Trauma?  Yes, Trauma.  I assert that if you knew how to move correctly, you would not be in a position to get injured or you would know how to move better and avoid the injury in the first place. 

Improve the math, improve the movement and improve your health.  It’s a law.

What law?  The laws of Kinesiology.  The science of human movement.  These laws have been published and know to mankind for years, yet, we as a society, continue to violate them everywhere human movement exists to produce a result.

Sports, industry, healthcare, and fitness training violates the principles of Kinesiology every day.  That includes my colleagues.  That includes the AAU baseball coach, the gymnastics coach, the martial arts instructor, etc. etc.

It can’t be?

Look at the results. 

Keep this in mind: “A person should train to stay healthy and improve physical or sport performance.  If one or both of these results are not happening, the training is wrong and most definitely violates kinesiology”

Go online and look at what is being sold to you. Really think about the quote above.  Is what they are selling you working?

I saw an alleged guru on the Internet.  I won’t say what sport but his products are flooded in one certain sport.  His website has a “who’s who” of that sport.  The issue is that most of his athletes are out of that sport because of the injuries that this guru professes to fix!

I have seen the products and the videos.  Guess what they violate?

Yup.

Kinesiology or what I call the Kinesiolgical Sequence. 

All of the movements that I witnessed were distal to proximal. 

That is like trying to drive your car forward in reverse.  

Movement is math!  You can’t violate this law in any movement that you do.

TRAIN TO STAY HEALTHY and IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.  This is now a law!  It’s my book.  So I can do that because that phrase helps you. The above, is what you should demand from any therapist, personal trainer, “guru”, or your own doctor.

If you were an athlete, try and remember how many times the proximal to distal law was violated in your experience.  Did the coaching or training make you healthier or improves your performance? 

I am certain that it did not.

Why do I say all this?  LOOK at the results.

Here are a few to think about:

In 2018 there were 2 NBA basketball players who jumped up and came down never the same.  One with a shattered ankle, the other with a blown out ACL.  I am wondering why that doesn’t happen to a figure skater?  They land on a 1/8 in blade on ice after doing crazy spinning movements.  Can you name a knee or ankle injury to a famous skater?  THAT’s a RESULT of training!

I will get off my soapbox with this one.

There are far too many baseball pitchers every year who injury their elbow and need Tommy John Surgery.  My tennis memories go back to Borg and McEnroe.  I can’t remember one tennis player injuring their elbow and needing Tommy John Surgery….hmmmm….Kinesiolgical Sequence!  Results!

Great information on this podcast

PODCAST: BASEBALL: OUTSIDE THE BOX by Peter Caliendo

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.

PT and Your Annual Checkup!?!

Why Physical Therapy Should Be Part of Your Annual Check-Up
A recent survey indicated uncertainty about what a physical therapist does and how they can provide preventative care through an annual check-up.  The survey showed:
• More than half of people surveyed think a physical therapist helps people following an accident or chronic illness with rehabilitation.
• One quarter of people believe that physical therapists provide guidance in helping to exercise the body.
• Only eight percent think a physical therapist work with athletes to help enhance athletic performance.
• Another eight percent believe that physical therapists help people with serious physical problems.
• A very small percentage felt that physical therapists work with doctors after a patient leaves the hospital.

Although all of the above is true about a physical therapist, they also are qualified to conduct an overall health evaluation and then design a health and training program that is tailored to the needs of each individual. This includes targeting any weaknesses to build strength in those areas and prevent future injury. 
In most states, individuals now have direct access to a physical therapist. Direct access means that individuals can visit a physical therapist directly to seek a personalized health evaluation.  Direct access not only saves money, but makes health care accessible to all people.

Direct Access to Physical Therapy Helps People Stay Healthy

Physical Therapy has never been easier – in most states, including Massachusetts, people can visit a physical therapist directly to seek a personalized health evaluation.  This is called Direct Access. Direct save individuals time and money, but makes healthcare more accessible to more people.

“Examining and analyzing patients that have not gotten results for their condition before and finding the true cause of their condition so you can improve upon it is very rewarding for a physical therapist,” says Dr. Kevin McGovern, Founder of Perfect Motion Sports Therapy

Physical therapists are independent clinicians that are highly skilled in the evaluation, and treatment of musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. Physical therapists are highly trained to easily recognize when a patient should be sent to a physician for further evaluation. 

BASEBALL Training Part 2

In 1974 a scrawny left handed Dodger pitcher by the name of Tommy John visited an LA hot shot orthopedic surgeon by the name of Frank Jobe for elbow pain when he pitched.  Dr. Jobe examined John and told him his elbow needed to be reconstructed for him to pitch again.  The problem was that UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) surgery had only been done on animals.  John wanted it.  Jobe did it.  The rest is baseball history.  Tommy John came back from the surgery that now bears his name in a year.  He missed 1975 and came back to pitch 207 inning in 1976.

My question is this:  Why 42 years later is the whole recovery process actually taking longer?

Well they say a picture speaks 1000 words….

There is a scrawny Tommy John above 3 horses:  PRYOR, STRASBURG, and BENSON.

What do you see?

I see 42 years plus of UNCHANGED mechanics causing the same issue except the guys throwing now are BIGGER, FASTER, and THROW HARDER.  BUT, the UCL is still the same size it was in 1974.

FIX THE MOVEMENT, FIX THE PROBLEM!!  This is ALWAYS the answer.

ANNOUNCMENT:

COMMING TO YORK, PA  NOVEMBER 18^, 2017!  STAY TUNED…..

Baseball Training? Part One

When we look at training for sports; there needs to be a purpose.  I believe there are two simple purposes to sports training:  1.  To Stay Healthy 2.  To Improve Performance.

The sport that has really adopted these principles is professional golf, due in part to Tiger Woods crashing the scene in 1997.  At that time a rotund golfer named John Daly led the PGA Tour in Driving Distance at 303 yards.  Tiger was second at 297 yards. Today there are more that 65 golfers averaging over 300 yards of Driving Distance.  Is the equipment better?  Of course.  But what are leaps and bounds better is the shape the golfers are in.  These guys are jacked!

The golf fitness craze spread through the Tour like wildfire.  Services like TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) and the PGA Tour’s own traveling gym housed in a modified 18-Wheeler have helped golfer get in better shape.

I bring up Golf because the training that these guys have done have shown measurable results.  The golfers have bought in to improving their fitness.

Conversely, the sport that refuses to look into different training ways to stay healthy and improve performance is baseball.  The same training is done over and over again expecting different results.  I believe we call that INSANITY!!. 

Here are a few things to think about:

Long Toss, Resistance Bands, and Weighted ball are used to “strengthen arms” for outfielders.  Any Results?  Name 10 outfielders that can reach home plate on the fly from their normal outfield position. 

You wont get to 10.  Why is the number not 80?

Long Toss, Resistance Bands, Weighted Balls for pitchers are used to “strengthen arms”.  UCL (Tommy John) injuries are at an all time high.  Pitchers who have had Tommy John Surgery are taking longer to rehab than the actual Tommy John in 1974.

How can this be?

Stay Tuned for the next blog.  Hint:  DON’T VIOLATE KINESIOLOGY!