A Guide to Better Movement: The Science and Practice of Moving With More Skill and Less Pain

the vertebrae need to be stabilized by core musculature in advance of the arm movement. But optimum stability does not prevent all movement in the spine — instead it allows small movements under control. Thus, proper stability, including core stability, is about a finely nuanced control of movement, as opposed to rigid prevention of movement.

just because you feel better after massage or acupuncture or stretching doesn’t mean that what you did corrected any damage in the tissues.

the downward movement of the diaphragm creates intra-abdominal pressure, which is an essential aspect of spinal stability. This lesson is a way to explore and recover ways of moving the diaphragm and ribs that you may have habitually neglected. This can affect the coordination and strength of the entire trunk.

flexibility as the range of motion at a particular joint — how far it can move from A to B. Mobility means the degree of functional control over the end range of motion. Most people need more mobility, but not more flexibility to improve their movement. In other words, they don’t need more range of motion, just better performance and control at the

fatigue is not a physical state of the body, but rather an emotion that is used by the brain to regulate exercise stress.124 Thus, like pain, fatigue is an output of the brain designed to protect the body.

Although the weight is a form of resistance to the muscles, it is a form of assistance to the nervous system in finding the best movement pattern.

To use the team analogy, we improve the performance of the thorax by forcing it to perform while the neck is on the bench. After a little practice, the neck returns to the field and there is better teamwork. Put another way, practicing “differentiation” often results in better “integration.”

in the presence of back pain, the rectus abdominis and erectors increase co-contraction to create more stiffness. This braces the back and protects the painful area, but it comes with a price. Compression is increased, variation in movement is reduced, and there is less ability to make precise intersegmental movements. Thus, co-contraction of the g

The more times you feel a certain pain, the more you will “deepen” the neural grooves that create it, and the less stimulus will be required to trigger it.