It’s All Relative

Advice from Jeremy Shore, Director of Personal Trainer Education

As you know, choosing the path of least resistance almost always leads to trouble.  This is true for life and for the body.  Whenever we attempt to take the easy way out we end up suffering in the long term.

The body does the same thing when the kinetic chain, made up of the nervous, muscular, and skeletal system, seeks the path of least resistance.  In the training community, this is called Relative Flexibility and is clearly seen in many everyday movement patterns such as the squat.

Due to restrictions in the calf complex, during a squat pattern an individual is forced to either externally rotate the feet, or thrust the knees forward to fake dorsiflexion.  This allows the individual to squat, but ends up overloading other areas of the biomechanical chain which causes more dysfunction.  For example, once the knees become overloaded the quadriceps begin pulling down on the pelvis which in turn starts locking down the psoas.  This forces the individuals to ‘right’ themselves and leads to low back compression, decreased neuromuscular control and overall joint dysfunction.  Combined with dehydration and the stresses and repetitive movements of life these dysfunctions are only exacerbated.

By strategically addressing loss of tissue tolerance with Myofascial Compression Techniques, homeostasis can be restored and the body freed to move with ease increasing performance in life and sport.  It does take time and commitment, but anything worth doing in life usually does.