Movement and Movement Analysis at Rē

As integral and important as water and clean air, movement is one of the cornerstones of good health. So often today's fast-paced world emphasizes the mental and competitive aspects of existence that we frequently neglect the necessity of gentle movement for the body. Gentle exercises and guided movement are the antidote to the tendency to view the mind and body as separate entities. Joining the mind and body with healthy movement generates harmony, lowers your chance of chronic illness and promotes emotional stability.

At Rē, we focus not only on massage and bodywork, but also on increasing the health of the human condition. Movement and Movement Analysis provided by Nina Madsen NCTMB, CMA, BFA . For a detailed description of how Laban Movement Analysis can help you, click here to read a concise explanation of it, as well as see how it can benefit you!

About Movement

Movement can be thought of as a language, and good healthy movers can be thought of as articulate in the language of movement.  Who is articulate in movement?  -Almost any child.  They can twist, turn, fall down, get up, squat, lunge, jump, run, and climb trees, all with safety, ease and grace.  They can get from point A to point B in a million different ways.  As adults, most people have lost their ability to move – we can usually get from point A to B in maybe five ways but not as ecstatically or simply as a child.  We have gotten into a “movement rut” that is difficult to escape from.  If you live in a country where people don’t speak English, you can exist with a vocabulary of maybe a couple hundred words.  You can survive and accomplish your everyday needs or maybe even have a job.  But you are not fluent, and you’re not going to have as many opportunities as someone that is.  And, you also might get into trouble if life requires a little more language skill.

Movement is the same way.  With a survival vocabulary of movement, you can walk around, sit on the couch, maybe hike or bike a little, maybe even play a sport, or go to the gym and move your limbs through the predetermined paths provided by machines.  But when something unexpected happens like a push on the soccer field, a fall skiing or an extra long run with a friend, your muscle memory and movement patterns are exceeded and pain and injury.  If you have free muscles, flexibility, and unrestricted movement potential, you have the buffer zone to meet unexpected physical challenges.  You can also seek out challenges, by trying new sports or activities with less fear.

For example, gardening often requires you to squat down to the ground and then make reaching, twisting and pulling movements.  The key word in the sentence here is the squat.  The squat requires the following actions – full ankle flexion, full knee flexion, full hip flexion as well as some trunk extension and stabilization.  Although the squat is one of the simplest and most functional movements, it is actually composed of many separate joint movements and muscles, and if one is not moving efficiently, the whole thing would be very uncomfortable, if possible. If you don’t have full (and comfortable) ankle flexion, you can’t get all the way to the ground without lifting your heels, which can reduce stability which would place increased demands on your knees and low back.  Ever have sore knees and low back after gardening?  Think about it!

Recovering better movement should start with systematically making sure that you can move all your joints through all available ranges of motion at different speeds in a controlled and coordinated fashion. This is where movement analysis comes into the equation. A competent and trained Movement Analyst can examine the patterns of movement you currently exhibit, and formulate an exercise and movement plan tailored for you, combining it with suggestions for bodywork focus during a massage session, yielding a better you! After making sure you are in the process of recovering or reestablishing healthy movement patterns, you can then proceed to practice with more intensity the key actions that you use most often in life.