At Massage School they teach therapists all about our bodies. As a massage therapy student, I studied the muscular system of the body in detail. I worked with my instructors and learned where all the major muscle groups are located on our bodies, where tendons and ligaments are and what each of their functions are. However, once one actually begins working on real bodies that have in real life I learned that it’s not as simple as knowing where everything is and what it’s function is. As people go through their lives and lifestyles you understand that the real body doesn’t always end up looking all that much like the pictures.
Most of us fall into habitual patterns of movement and not all of the time do we develop ways of moving which are in line with how our bodies are designed. As we grow certain parts of our bodies get tightened from injury or lack of movement. To compensate for those injuries our bodies will often pull on the spine.
The result is that the spine does not have all the normal curves you would hope it would and people often have an S curve or scoliosis. There are varying degrees of scoliosis and some hit children very young while rapid growth hormones are working on their body and they can end up with a very Twisted spine. Then there’s the scoliosis that just happens as people start to weaken in one area and another area takes over or maybe from pregnancies or weight gain but either way the spine can shift and has its own way of coping with the forces being pulled up on it.
The good news is we are not made of cement and we know the body has lots of fluidity and almost a gelatinous quality to the muscles that attach to the bones of our spine. Years ago I had some xrays taken of my spine. The chiropractor pointed out my s curve and did some adjustments on me. I then started an intensive stretching program and weight training.
When I returned to the chiropractor a year later he took more x Ray’s. He was astounded that the previous curves and issues in my spine had been corrected. I was also happily surprised. He wanted to know what I had been doing and I explained that I weight trained four days a week and stretched every day. What I learned from this is that with efficient exercise you can change a body,that’s why I became certified in personal training. I continued to learn exercise theories such as Pilates and Tai Chi and found that there is no one exercise that does it all. It’s best to vary workouts and even doing a small amount of something different can give great results.
Valentina Boonstra
