Let’s take a lesson from our kids

Every human movement is a sequence of positions or poses that are in motion. On either end of a movement, you have a starting pose and an ending pose. Your ability to get into each pose will determine how proficient you are in that action. We call this skill the Range Of Motion (ROM). Every joint in the human body has a predisposed genetic ROM. We see the most accurate expression of this potential in kids.

It’s marvelous to see how flexible and agile the young are. 

As life passes on, people’s habits start changing. They spend more time sedentary than in motion. It becomes apparent when you observe little kids running around, and you think; ‘Shit, I get tired just watching them.’ 

When we stop exploring the different shapes our body is capable of, we end up losing the ability to get into them. Let’s take the squat as a prime example. 

Infants still spend a lot of time in the squat, for rest, defecation, play, etc. The result is that they all get into the perfect positions every time. Ask a group of adults to sit in a squat, and you will see a variety of wonky versions of the squat. 

(Drawing by Exercising Health)

Peoples genetics don’t change over the years. They just lose their capacity through lack of practice. Chairs, toilets, beds and other modern furniture has made it unnecessary to get low to the ground. Now, when we try sitting in a deep squat, our bodies cant successfully get below the point where a chair would have been, to support us. 

As human beings, we are, however, very determined. We will often persist with a movement regardless of our inabilities to conform to the correct shapes. The only way we can do this is by working around the issue and making physical compromises. 

The big problem is that these alterations in the patterns are inefficient and will cause injury over time.

This blog is mostly about spinal health. That’s why I bring up this particular issue. The back often gets the brunt of the punishment from poor movement quality. Take this example of picking up a bag. 

(Notice how the extra range of motion in the hips and ankles will allow the spine to stay protected in neutral. Drawing by Exercising Health)

So what’s the fix? 

Well, there are two parts to this answer. 

1. Take more time exploring the different shapes your body can get into. Spend some time sitting on the floor and playing with your children. Watch how they move and try imitate them. It’s ironic, but they are more in tune with their bodies than we are. They can teach us a lot about movement. 

2. Spend time finding the joints of your body that have lost their ROM and use mobility tools to restore them. I will do many specific posts on this in the future.

So that’s one way we can learn from our young ones. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry. Be sure to follow me @exercisinghealth for more content like this on. 

Also, please share the love by upvoting this post so we can get this information out to people who might need it. 

Chat again real soon,

- Chris - 

Previous Posts

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Stand up, dammit!

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