Movement is the common thread that defines us as living beings. In biology class, the main difference between life and death is movement. We are constantly in motion, and there is a need for this movement, as the body is forever at work maintaining homeostasis/balance.

The same is true of immobility; the body will often decrease the ability to move one of its parts to allow for healing or to prevent further injury. An example of this is when there is a broken bone or wound. The body immediately “walls” off the area via swelling and inflammation, creating heaviness and pain when moving the injured area.

We often fail to see the big picture of the body as an organism complete with all the tools necessary to “fix” itself. Total Motion Release is an exercise technique developed by North Carolina physical therapist Tom Dalonzo-Baker that looks at the body’s natural healing abilities. Through years of observation in his own practice, he formulated three basic principles of body healing:

1. Exercise the good/strong side to improve the bad/weak side.

2. Move further into areas and positions of comfort, or go where the body wants to go.

3. Body conditions such as inflammation, pain, and restrictions are signs and messages that the body delivers to rest or decrease the movement of that part.

The first principle works because exercising the strong side shortens the tissue/joints on the weak side, which gives more “space” for that effected joint or tissue to heal. If you stretched, activated, or moved the wounded area, you would flare it up. To see this first principle in action, try the Arm Raise and Sit to Stand exercises described in the sidebar at right.

The second principle works because the body (in its wisdom) already knows where to go to help itself. How often do we listen to our body or allow it to move as it would like to? We have built-in body-harming technology via cookie-cutter furnishings that place us at 90-degree angles: our chairs, wheelchairs and car seats. We assume everyone’s body is comfortable at these angles. But, each person’s body varies as to what it likes and needs in terms of position. The activities we choose to participate in—whether play or jogging or yoga—are often the ones our body seeks to readjust and rebalance itself.

The third principle relates to motionlessness or rest. The need for rest is as important as the need for motion. An area of the body in pain is the area of the body in need of rest. Often, that is the side of the body that is overworked; it may have been the strong side making up for the weaker side, but now it needs the break and shows up as the weak. To understand, we can relate our body to a shelf, with the brackets holding up the self like our joints. Let’s say there are three brackets, one in the middle and one on each side. If the bracket on the left and the one on the right were suddenly to pull out and not hold up the shelf, the one remaining bracket in the middle would be doing all of the work. Would it be wise to put more objects on the shelf now and work it harder? Of course not, yet in our rehabilitation protocols, we often take the overworked side and add more work to it. To rebalance the shelf (body), you would first have to reestablish the two slacker side brackets by putting them back in (working the strong side) and giving that middle bracket its much needed rest.

In the present rehab/therapy/medical realm, we often focus so much on the injury, while the main issue is that the other joints or body parts may not be working correctly or at all, as in the case of the vacationing brackets. Perhaps it’s time to reexamine our concept of healing in the human body. Let us take the whole body into consideration and allow our bodies’ wisdom to work for us, telling us to work or rest and which parts to work and rest. Only when we come to this awareness can balance permeate our lives. In balance, we can put healing into motion. In motion, we thus free our bodies to whirl, leap, dance, do yoga, tap our feet and come fully into life.

ARM RAISE EXERCISE
1. Sit in a comfortable position on a chair without your back touching the chair.

2. Raise one arm as far up and back as you can. Note any pain, tightness, heaviness, weakness, loss of motion and unsteadiness. How far back does it go?

3. Raise your other arm as high and far back as you can, also noting the above sensations.

4. Compare both sides and decide which is the strong/weak side.

5. Work your strong side by raising your arm and pushing back for a count of 20 seconds. Repeat a second time.

6. Now raise the other arm and note any improvements. Continue working the strong arm at a 20-second hold, two reps, until the other arm feels about equal to the strong arm.

SIT TO STAND EXERCISE
1. Start by sitting in a chair. Keeping one foot off the ground, stand up on the other leg. What do you feel? (Pain, tightness, heaviness, weakness, loss of motion or unsteadiness?)

2. Now stand up using the other leg. If you cannot stand up with either leg, go to a higher chair, barstool, or table, or add pillows until you are able to stand up from that height. If it’s too easy to get up from a normal chair height, use a lower seat or stepstool.

3. Compare both sides. Which leg causes you more discomfort when you stand up on it? That is your weak side.

4. Keeping the weak leg up, get up and down from the chair (sit to stand) 12 times on your good leg. Do this for another set of 12 reps.

5. Now get up on the weaker leg. Is there a difference? Is it easier to do? Repeat the exercise at 12 reps and two sets, then compare again. Do this until the weak leg is comparable to the strong leg.

Grace Shen has been practicing physical therapy for over 15 years and presently sees clients at Graceful Hearts Physical Therapy Clinic utilizing craniosacral, energywork, and the Total Motion Release techniques. She is also accepting animal clients for treatments and animal communication sessions. For information and appointments, call 828-545-2948.

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