First off, I’d like to say that everyone at the clinic was
amazing! I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience
and to have met everyone there. Thank you for your mentorship and all that you
did for me during my time there. This experience has taught me so many things,
and has given me a whole new appreciation for the nervous system.
The nervous system is an unbelievable and resilient system.
It literally drives everything we do, from the most basic movement functions to
the highest levels of performance. It give us the ability to do amazing things.
Many of these things we take for granted and never think twice about.
During my time at the clinic, I saw all sorts of movement
patterns, neurologic pathologies, and improvements in patients’ abilities.
Going into this experience I took for granted many things that I’ve never thought
twice about, like the ability to go up and down stairs reciprocally. Even things like jumping and landing with two
feet involve abilities I’ve never given any real thought to. Even if the
nervous system is impaired, its ability to learn, adapt, and acquire skills is
incredible.
These are things that many of us never consider if there is
never a problem. Just a few of these basic movements include, among others:
- Alternating and moving your limbs independently of each other (reciprocal gait pattern)
- Skipping
- Standing on one leg
- Walking toe to heel (tandem walking)
- Jumping and landing with two feet
- Crawling
- Rolling
- Tall kneeling
- Lunging
All of these movement patterns are things we should have developed
as children, to build a foundation for higher levels of coordination and skill.
This is not always the case. Especially when we are children, getting out and
exploring our world, crawling, climbing, running, and jumping, are so important
to the natural development of our motor skills. The acquisition of these skills
gives us so much more variation in what we can do. More variation and ability
to shift into different movement patterns makes us more resistant to injury.
When we do acquire all of these skills during childhood we need
to continue to fine tune them throughout our lives. As children we build the
foundation, and as we age we need to learn how to move more efficiently. This
all takes time, effort, and concentration. Think about any skill physical skill
you have ever tried to learn or improve upon. It builds off the foundation you
have built as a child, and then refining the movement pattern over time makes
you better and more efficient at the task.
It was a great experience these past 8 weeks and I’ve
learned so much that I can now apply practically. Again, I am very grateful to
have had this experience, and send thanks to everyone at the clinic.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
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