I interview movement and therapy professionals to understand their stories and uncover pearls of wisdom that will help anyone on the path to understanding their pain and movement problems.
I hope you'll find inspiration for your own journey of getting out of pain. If you are seeking reasons to be hopeful or want to learn about some unique approaches to getting your body well again, you'll enjoy these insightful conversations.
Découvrez des podcasts liées à Movement Detectivery Podcast. Explorez des podcasts avec des thèmes, sujets, et formats similaires. Ces similarités sont calculées grâce à des données tangibles, pas d'extrapolations !
Interview with Gary Ward: Why Glute Strengthening Doesn't Work, Pronation is the Highest Value Movement for the Body, and Injury Timelines are Crucial
mercredi 20 mai 2026 • Durée 01:37:48
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Oh boy, this interview was a long time coming- I am thrilled to have finally interviewed one of the most influential movement educators I’ve had the privilege to learn from on my own personal and professional journey, Gary Ward.
Gary is a movement educator and creator of Anatomy in Motion. Gary dedicated the past few decades of his life to understanding the truth of human movement- A boss level Movement Detective. Gary now teaches his model of closed chain joint mechanics online, in-person, and works with folks ranging from high level professional athletes to the average person recovering from a hip replacement.
Gary’s brain child, the Flow Motion Model of gait (FMM), has helped myself and countless other movement and therapy professionals understand how to more clearly observe and work with the human body in motion. The FMM started as a realization that when you change how the foot moves on the ground, it affects everything else in the body, and he would not stop until he’d mapped the movement of every bone, joint, and muscle in the body through the 0.6-0.8 seconds it takes to complete a footstep.
Now I have to state my personal bias- In 2021 I became an instructor for Anatomy in Motion. It is a huge part of the work that I do in my own private bodywork and movement coaching practice. Keep that in mind as you listen to our conversation.
In our conversation, Gary and I discuss:
* Gary’s journey from ski boot fitting to developing the Flow Motion Model
* How Gary set about developing the Flow Motion Model as a personal journey of movement exploration, and his belief that he could heal himself with movement.
* Why it is so important to make sense of someone’s injury history timeline to understand how to help them most efficiently with their chronic pain
* The paradigm shift in Gary’s thinking- Its not about strengthening and stretching, its about helping the body to unconsciously find its own best sense of centre by helping it access the movements it is missing.
* Why knees are so misunderstood in the evidence-based models of movement because it doesn’t account for the movement of the foot in the closed chain.
* How head positioning can be at the root of toe pain (and just mobilizing toes isn’t the solution)
* Debunking common misconceptions about navigating your own journey from chronic pain to well-being
* How using a force plate helped Gary develop his model of closed chain biomechanics
* Why foot pronation is one of the most high-value movement in the human body because of how it wakes up so much potential for the rest of the body.
And much more.
I really loved getting to speak with Gary. I hope you took away something useful for your own journey with your body!
Gary Ward has no qualifications and yet fancies his chances at taking down an established industry known for maintaining chronic pain and pushing people down the line towards surgical doom. Not standing for such a travesty he created weird jazz hand style moves that convince the brain anything is possible and moves away from pain and towards peak performance.
(Ok that bio was a piss-take… Because Gary doesn’t actually have a formal bio anywhere online and he gave me permission to copy/paste the above two paragraphs from a message he sent me when I asked him for a bio. Personally, I think it’s perfect. And actually, Gary has plenty of qualifications, but his best one is his Diploma of Real-Life Experience, decades of time in the trenches working with bodies and figuring things out through experimentation and consulting with many mentors along the way).
Jenn Pilotti just wrote a new book called Spinal Intelligence! It’s her 4th book, to be precise, and, like a crazy person, she edited it all by herself.
We recorded this podcast the day after her book was released, and I' am really looking forward to learning some of her insights about the spine (some common misconceptions), posture, and how the body is supposed to move based on her decades of experience and research.
I wanted to speak with Jenn because she is a like-minded movement detective that I think has a lovely, wholesome, intelligent approach to movement education.
Jenn takes a client-centered approach to movement coaching and personal training, meaning that she values having a tool-kit of movement approaches that helps her to meet her clients where they are at, whether they need a movement practice to help them get out of their busy minds and connect with their bodies to feel more at peace, or they want to improve their fitness while also managing frustrating niggles.
Her academic credentials in exercise science, kinesiology, and movement theory, combined with her love of movement exploration and real-life experience working with bodies of all types and abilities make her an excellent person to interview. I wanted to learn about her approach to working with bodies, her journey with her own body and what worked for her, and get an insight into what people will learn form her latest book.
In our conversation, Jenn and I discuss:
* Her new book, Spinal Intelligence (which you can buy HERE)
* Her position lecturing on mindfulness for the US Navy
* What Jenn’s learned about the intersections between mental health and movement
* Her journey overcoming chronic pain, and what helped her the most
* Myths about the spine
* Why you don’t need to worry about “Tech Neck”
* A better way to think about improving your posture than just trying to stand up straighter
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Interview with Corey Hess: Non-Directed Body Movement as a Rebellious and Creative Healing Practice
lundi 1 septembre 2025 • Durée 01:42:58
Corey Hess is a a structural integrator and movement educator in the Seattle area. Corey spent his twenties doing intense internal healing and embodiment work in a zen monastery in Japan, and came back to the US with unique insights to share about healing, pain, meditation, movement, and the internal energetic process.
Originally trained as a Structural Integrator, Corey went on to study SourcePoint Therapy®, Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation. These advanced modalities allow him to effectively treat a broad spectrum of issues
While in university, Corey first encountered Non-Directive Body Movement, a practice that I stumbled into in 2019 without knowing what it was.
I was so excited to talk to Corey because of his work teaching NDBM because I had years of questions pent up with no-one to bounce them off of. By far, NDBM has been a movement “practice” that has been the most effective, respectful, and honest way to deeply connect with my body and being, in motion.
In our conversation, Corey and I discuss:
* His time studying in Japan
* His relationship with Marilyn Beech, (NDBM teacher and (author of “Unexpected Results”)
* Dr. Marvin Solit and the origins of Non-Directed Body Movement
* What is NDBM, what can it do for you, and what is a class like?
* The parallels between craniosacral therapy, osteopathic techniques, and NDBM
* What is the role of deliberate exercises and stretching and where does NDBM fit into a movement practice?
* How to consider working with traumas from the birth process, like C-sections, etc.
* Is NDBM a form of meditation?
And so much more.
By the end of our conversation I felt inspired, like I’d met a kindred soul, and I was ready to book a flight to Seattle to hang out with Corey and have an in-person experience of one of his movement classes, which blend various other movement forms with NDBM.
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Interview with Jordan Terry: Emotions Affect Fascia, Fascia Touches Everything
mercredi 6 août 2025 • Durée 01:30:09
Jordan Terry is a licenced massage therapist in Santa Cruz CA, but just don’t call him a massage therapist… He prefers “Human Helper, Movement Detective, Body Listener and eternal Student”.
Jordan blends multiple modalities such as craniosacral therapy, PDTR, NKT, Anatomy in Motion, Polarity Therapy, and more to work with a wide variety of clients experiencing pain. Jordan also teaches his own course, Adaptable Polarity, bringing all of these fields of study together to systematize his unique way of working with the human body’s structure, function, and energetic systems.
Jordan has SO much to share and I barely touched the top of my list of questions for him. In our conversation we discussed:
* How fascia touches everything
* Alternating joint theory
* Potential problems with Neurolink from a craniosacral perspective
* Power vs. Force, and Richard Dawkins’ “scale of empowerment”, and how different emotions affect fascia
* How the cranium and our spine move with our breath
* How Jordan’s jaw injury and scar was affecting his hip pain
* Injury Recall Technique
* Paired bones and “reactors”, and what is the mechanism behind them
And so much more.
On a sad note, our internet connection was a little shaky, and there is a whole 20 minute chunk I had to omit because the audio wasn’t usable. Apologies. Hopefully, with my excellent editing skills, you won’t even notice the awkward transition I had to cut (but if you can tell me which minute it’s at, you win a prize!).
As you’ll hear, Jordan clearly has a lot of insight into the workings of the human body, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Here’s a bit more about Jordan:
Human Helper, Movement Detective, Body Listener and eternal Student & Teacher, has developed, synthesized and teaches the Adaptable Polarity Series.
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Interview with Dave Hedges: Cultivating Discipline and Taking Responsibility for our Bodies
mercredi 30 juillet 2025 • Durée 01:37:24
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Today’s interview is with the incredible Dave Hedges: Coach , martial artist, and injury management specialist.
You can also listen here on Spotify:
One of the reasons I wanted to speak with Dave is because of his intimate, complex, and thoughtful relationship with movement, his body, and how he works with other bodies. Dave has such a broad scope of thoughts, ideas, opinions, practical skill sets, and experiences, and I loved discussing his story, his key learnings, and his philosophy for helping people improve their performance and chronic pain.
In this conversation we discuss:
* His early movement life and getting into karate
* The risk of identifying with a movement form
* Working with people vs working on people
* The importance of training both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and what meditation actually helps us with
* What it means to cultivate discipline and take responsibility for your body, and why these are so important for getting out of pain
* Dave’s experience with his back injury and how he worked with his own body to get through
* Dave’s experience with Anatomy in Motion
* Why injury prevention as a goal is unrealistic, and what to focus on instead
* Training your “human animal”
And more…
I really appreciate Dave’s depth and honesty, and I found myself nodding along, resonating with what he was saying and how uncannily parallel our journeys were.
I loved talking to Dave and can't wait for you to listen, too. Enjoy!
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Interview with Jennifer Price (Part 2): "Liver-Lash" and how the Viscera Get Overlooked in Assessing Musculoskeletal Problems
Saison 1 · Épisode 3
jeudi 24 juillet 2025 • Durée 46:24
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Jen Price is back for part 2! If you haven’t yet listened to part 1, check that out HERE.
I got some lovely feedback about our first conversation, and I didn’t even get through half of what I wanted ask Jen about.
In this second conversation I wanted to ask Jen about some ideas and concepts that are mulling around in my head in the sphere of health, movement, and bodywork, including:
* Should you have to do exercises to integrate a manual therapy session? Or is the treatment enough on it’s own?
* What is “health”? (because it’s more than just the absence of disease…)
* What role does artificial intelligence have in the future of bodywork? Will we ever have something that resembles a massage robot? Or will human touch always be in style?
* How the viscera are involved in many of our chronic pain problems, and in particular, the significance of the liver. Ever heard of “liver-lash”?, i.e. whiplash of the liver.
And so much more.
I felt like we could have kept talking, yet again. I really think you’ll enjoy this conversation with Jen, I learned a lot and I hope you will, too!
I hope you enjoy this conversation and get as much from it as I did.
Here’s a little more about Jen:
Jennifer’s interest is in the human body's ability to heal itself with a little help from the correct forms of treatment and diagnosis using both modern and ancient knowledge informs the basis of her practice. She believes a health practice where all modalities work in consultation, with the integrated care from all therapists brings the best outcome for the patient. This is why she set up ESOLAB in 2013 and has steadily increased her team to include senior practitioners from many modalities.
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Interview With Esther Juon: Saving One Pair of Feet at a Time
Saison 1 · Épisode 2
mercredi 16 juillet 2025 • Durée 01:38:13
Esther Juon has an incredible story. She fractured her spine at age 18 in an accident in the dance studio and was told she’d never walk again. As a lover of movement, this was an unacceptable prognosis, and she went on not only walk, but to dance ballet again, and is still going strong today at age 71!
Esther’s back injury changed the course of her life, and, in her words, “It has become my ‘university’, and I learned a lot from it. It shaped my entire life, and this experience has become the catalyst behind my professional life and what I do today.”
She is an incredible example of someone who took a negative experience and turned it into a passion for helping others. She used her own injuries and healing journey to create a system for empowering others to better care for their bodies. Specifically, dancers transitioning into pointe shoes.
In this conversation, Esther and I discuss her incredible 40 year career throughout which she has developed her method for working to support and educate young dancers transition into pointe shoes safely.
She describes her journey with her body- Being told she’d be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, and the 7 year journey in which she defied the odds and learned to walk again.
This experience fueled her desire to help dancers so that they would not to have to go through the same thing she did, and she created her education company, Juon Pointe, and the world’s most unique method for mentoring and preparing dancers to go on pointe safely through customized assessments, exercise programs, and an intelligent pointe shoe fitting process.
I consider this interview to be mandatory listening for any dancer, dance educator, or medical professional who works with dancers.
I really wish I had Esther in my life when I started ballet training at age 12, and after you listen to our conversation, you’ll understand why.
She is truly and inspirational, passionate, and opinionated educator, here to shake up the traditions of the way ballet is taught.
I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation and find it inspiring, whether you are a dancer, or not.
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Interview with Jennifer Price: Finding Solutions for Eczema and Anxiety through Traditional Chinese Medicine (part 1)
Gait Case Study: Chest Scar Linked to Lower Back Pain?
vendredi 4 juillet 2025 • Durée 40:02
First, a small rant. Anatomy in Motion is NOT just about the feet.
An assumption often made about the world of Anatomy in Motion is that everything we do is about working with the feet. The feet are the root of all problems and all we do is get people to pronate and magically they become pain-free.
Wrong. Not problem is a foot problem.
Well, not 100% wrong. Every problem is in some way related to the feet, but only because every body part is related toevery other body part.
A problem with anything can become a problem with anything else. If you change one thing in the body, everything else must change in response.
AiM is not all about the feet. More accurately would be to say that AiM is all about understanding how everything affects everything, and the role of the feet is often so neglected and underappreciated. AiM gives us by far one of the most comprehensive biomechanical models of foot pronation and supination, and how these specifically coordinate with every other joint in the body, allowing us as practitioners to make meaningful connections between the feet and the rest of the body.
But not every person’s problem will need to start by working with their feet.
And my case study today is a great example of this.
Watch the video and read this case study and you’ll get to see how working with a chest scar and exploring shoulder and neck movements created a change that was observable all the way down to the feet.
It was pretty cool, and I hope you’ll think it’s cool, too.
Ready? On to today’s case study…
Meet Jon
Jon has generously donated his body for your learning pleasure. Thanks, Jon!
I first met Jon in 2023 when he took the AiM Closed Chain Biomechanics course I taught in Toronto. He is a keen learner of AiM and I always love a good movement nerd-out with fellow students.
Jon’s main goal in our session (other than wanting to expand his awareness of his own movement patterns and learning the Flow Motion Model), was to understand the source of his
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Gait Analysis: Recent ACL Reconstruction in Motion
mercredi 16 avril 2025 • Durée 26:22
Another day another gait video. If you’re a fellow gait geek, movement detective, or Anatomy in Motion learner I hope you’ll enjoy following along with this gait analysis.
Meet Our Lovely Gait Model
This video is from Haider, a student who joined us in my Toronto Flow Motion Model course last November 2024. We filmed his video to use as a potential gait analysis to look at as a group, but in the end it didn’t make the cut (sorry, Haider). The reason we didn’t use his video in the actual class was because there was a little toooo much going on and I wanted a case study that was simple and obvious to use for learning purposes.
But now that we’re out of the classroom, no holds are barred. Let’s take break this shit down! We love your complexity, Haider.
What does a knee with a recent ACL reconstruction look like in gait?
This video is a good example for how a body may look like whilst walking with a relatively recent knee operation.
Did you notice Haider’s left knee in the video?
His knee does an interesting thing where it seems to hyper-extendwhile also being more valgus while entering late swing to heel strike, compared to his right,
If you are someone who’s been studying the Flow Motion Model and Gary Ward’s closed chain biomechanics for any length of time, you’ll know that knee valgus and extension should not go together. Big red flag that made me want to know more.
So I emailed Haider to ask:
Did something happen to your left knee? (because of how you don't seem to want to get your mass fully on top of it and the knee holds a more valgus state and looks to be hyperextended?)
To which he replied:
“Yes, I had ACL reconstruction with a patellar graft on my left side Jan 2024. So I was about 10 months post op at the time of the course”.
WHOAH. Here’s what we can learn about the mechanics of an ACL injury and how it is showing up in Haider’s gait:
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* Jenn’s opinion about toe spacers, should you use them?
* Our experience studying with the Postural Restoration Institute
* The origins of Vladimir Janda’s upper and lower cross syndromes
* The importance of “neutral spine”
* A common myth about strength training
And much more.
I learned a lot in our conversation and felt like I was speaking with a kindred spirit.
I hope you enjoy this interview with Jenn Pilotti, and if you want to learn more, I hope you’ll check out her new book (and any of her three previous ones).
Jenn Pilotti, M.S., takes a comprehensive, client-focused approach to fitness that emphasizes movement quality, holistic well-being, and the integration of mind and body. She integrates principles from various disciplines such as strength training, flexibility, dance, parkour, yoga, and mindfulness to create fitness programs that facilitate a mind-body connection.
Jenn has a strong educational foundation in exercise science, kinesiology, and movement theory, which informs her practice. She stays updated with the latest research and trends in the fitness industry to provide evidence-based training methods.
She takes a client-centered approach in her work, taking into account each person’s goals and needs. Her diverse experience coaching and teaching allow her to take a creative lens when designing classes and programs.
In addition to her work with private clients, Jenn teaches workshops internationally, leads corporate wellness programs, and hosts two fitness and movement podcasts. She also teaches mindfulness for the US Navy Leadership Seminar.
Jenn is an avid learner and mover. She regularly participates in movement workshops and has a daily movement practice.
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If you enjoy what Corey as to say and want to explore NDBM, get in touch with him and ask about his classes. He teaches 5x/week on Zoom and has a really wonderful global community of curious movement explorers.
Want to get in touch with Corey?
For info about Corey’s classes and retreats, GO HERE
I live on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, with my wife and three daughters, where I teach Meditation/Qigong and see clients for manual therapy.
After fifteen years ripening and learning to communicate these insights through hands on touch therapy, teaching movement, and discussion, I now offer classes, workshops and private sessions, including classes in Qigong, Zhan Zhuang, non-directed body movement, and meditation instruction. I also run The Energy Collective, an International online group of committed practitioners. Most Importantly, I am a husband and a father to three beautiful daughters.
Formally trained as an architect at the University of Maryland, it was a relatively easy switch from the structure and flow of buildings to that of the human body.
Jordan earned his licensure to touch through Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute where he began his teaching career under the study, tutelage and mentorship of John Harris, local legend to Santa Barbara and author of Fix Pain, as well as, one of Jordan’s all-time favorite instructors.
He has since accumulated hundreds of hours of continuing education and pursued countless hours of personal study that ultimately led to the formation and continual adaptation of Adaptable Polarity. Everything has its place and space, and it is our duty as therapists to adapt to the client before us.
Dave is a movement therapist and fitness / coach in Dungannon in the UK.
Dave is fascinated by the human body's resilience, it's potential for strength, mobility and endurance. It’s ability to respond and adapt to incredible circumstances and how it can heal and recover if allowed the right stimulus.
And that stimulus is usually movement
For the last 20 years Dave has helped innumerable people from all walks of life, from weekend warriors to semi-professional athletes, gym goers to full contact fighters, overcome injuries and realise their potential.
Dave places an importance on carefully assessing movement and mindset through the medium of Anatomy In Motion (AiM) to work out what the body needs and then giving you the exercises to heal yourself.
Through his adventures in martial arts, mountain sports and security work, he has walked the path of injury many times.
Through first hand experience Dave understands the only way to truly heal and keep moving forward is to take personal responsibility and control of your own health & wellbeing.
Her interest in nature and biology began growing up in a farming community in Victoria observing the seasons and animal health and then living in Eastern Asia for two years in her early twenties where she was exposed to Ayurvedic, Tibetan, and Chinese medicine but had already experienced Chinese herbal Medicine successfully as a teenager for eczema. Upon returning to Australia she enrolled in an Acupuncture degree completing it in 1996. A Master's degree in Chinese Herbal medicine was awarded in 2012.
During her last 28 years of full-time practice in Chinese medicine in Melbourne, she has undertaken further studies in Bioregulatory Medicine, with the Biomedic Foundation in London UK, Craniosacral with the Upledger institute in London UK, and Visceral Manipulation with the Barral institute around the globe.
Jennifer’s passion is to provide quality holistic allied health care with the team at ESOLAB South Melbourne. She is passionate and dedicated to ongoing learning Visceral Manipulation techniques to release restriction in the physical tissues allowing better metabolism, endocrine function, and general vitality. Multiple presenting pathologies, post-viral chronic fatigue, menopause, and psycho-emotionally presenting disease and its multiple manifesting symptoms are some of the most common presenting disorders she treats.
If you’re in Melbourne, come visit Jen’s clinic and book in for an appointment here: www.esolab.com.au
Esther has a three day event, The Pointe Shoe Summit, coming up in August 2025, and if you are able to attend I highly encourage you to do so. She’ll be teaching her unique method for preparing dancers to go on pointe through an assessment process, specific exercises, and how to properly fit a pointe shoe.
See www.pointeshoesummit.org for more information and to register (Zoom attendance is also available if you can’t attend in Seattle).
And learn more about Esther and her mentoring programs here:JuonPointe.org
About Esther:
Swiss-born Esther Juon initially trained by Armin Wild as a classical dancer and with the Opera House, Zurich. Injury in London ended her dance career but was the catalyst for her life’s work in teaching safe dance practice, which includes creating a reliable system for assessing and fitting pointe shoes.
Esther was invited by Nikolas Grishko to fit pointe shoes at the famous Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and in recognition of her contribution to the safe fitting of pointe shoes, Esther was awarded a Special Diploma by the Diaghilev Association in 1995.
Esther has published articles in ‘Young Dancer’ magazine, has written a book called Pointe Shoe Secrets, and has presented lectures at British Ballet Organisation, at regional R.A.D. courses, at the London’s Children Ballet and at various ballet schools in the UK and Ireland and New Zealand. Esther’s work has also been presented at IADMS (International Association for Dance Medicine & Science).
Esther is Founder of Juon Pointe and a member of IADMS, & ASPHA. She now works as a freelance teacher, lecturer, mentor and Master Pointe Shoe Fitter.
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He also noticed it was more difficult to get his weight to go into his left leg while walking.
Keep those in mind as we journey forward.
Assessment
A big stand out for Jon came to light in our chat about his past medical history.
He rattled off a list of things… An old ankle sprain whilst trail running. A back injury that started after a lift in the gym gone wrong.
But what stood out in a big way was that he had a scar on his right side of his chest, right under his clavicle.
He shared that when he was a kid he was in the hospital for leukemia treatment, and that scar was from where he the port put in.
He told me that last January while at an AiM course with Gary Ward in London, they had briefly assessed his scar’s impact on his whole body movements, but they didn’t really have the opportunity to get into it deeply enough to come to any conclusions.
Spoiler alert- His scar was affecting his movement in a big way.
And we’ll get into the details of that. But first…
Here’s a picture of his static alignment from our initial assessment:
Notice his pelvis hiked on the right, with a right lateral flexion and rotation in his spine. This is likely to be the correlation with his lower back pain on the right. The space there being more closed and compressed.
We can also understand how this alignment will generate a hip adduction on the right, and abduction on the left, which is correlated with his felt sense of not being able to get his weight as easily onto his left leg.
What I also think is quite interesting is how his posture is organized around closing in around the area of his clavicle scar:
* Spine lateral flexion to the right
* Spine rotation to the right
* Right shoulder more internally rotated
Those mechanics will effectively close down movement through his scar area.
Gait and dynamic assessment
What was interesting to see in his gait was that he also struggled to access the movements that his body wasn’t accessing in his static alignment:
* Pelvis hike left and thus left hip adduction
* Spine lateral flexion left
* Neck lateral flexion right: His neck stayed in his left lateral flexion throughout every phase of gait.
His neck in particular became a curiosity to me.
In the Flow Motion Model, in order to full weight-bear into your left leg we need the neck to laterally flex to the right.
Jon was missing the whole body shape we see at this moment in time, which looks like this:
And check out the screenshots below of his suspension phases from his before gait video, and notice how his head is ALWAYS in a lateral flexion to the left (right ear higher):
Check yo neck (and yo chest scar)
Remember that chest scar?
One thing we know about scar tissue is that it lays down thick and strong to limit movement so the area can heal.
And if our bodies are neve taught to move through an area with scar tissue, ideally as soon as possible after wound healing, then the likelihood of it happening on its own is pretty low. Its a very useful protective mechanism our bodies have.
Its almost as if, to our unconscious bodies, the scar becomes a no-go zone for movement. All movement happens around the scar, not through the scar.
It would make good sense for Jon’s body to take on his current body position so that the wound in his chest could heal without getting constantly pulled open again, all those years ago.
But now, present day, wound healed, how well are the structures around his thoracic spine, neck, and shoulder able move? Are they in this disorganized position as a result of adapting to the healing of his chest wound? Are the adaptations his body made around his healing scar decades ago still keeping him stuck with his current pattern and problems?
And will encouraging better quality movement there help things below in his back, hips, and feet?
Testing the hypothesis, testing the scar
In our dynamic assessment the main stand out “missing movements” we discovered were:
* Right scapula protraction (maybe it is already stuck protracted?)
* Left pelvis hike with weight getting onto left leg, i.e. left hip adduction (because his pelvis is already in a right hike and can’t get to the other side?)
* Skull lateral flexion right
The difference in his scapula protraction was so noticeable that we made a video (check the after video at the end of this post!):
To test if his scar was interfering with these movements we played a little scar stretch game.
With any scar, you can test and see if it feels limited when stretched in a particular direction. Drag the tissue up, down, left, right, and on diagonals, and you’ll find a vector of pull that feels stickier.
For Jon, his vector of barrier, the most sticky direction to stretch his scar, was directly medially towards his midline.
As a test, I dragged his scar towards his midline, then got him to recheck his pelvis hikes, neck lateral flexion, and scapula protraction, and, lo and behold, BOTH improved.
It was a little freaky, but the information this gave us was that YES, his scar and ensuing healing process around it is linked to his current jumble of missing and disorganized mechanics.
Our goal? Give them back in an organized way and treat his scar so movement can pass through that area again.
How? Mobilize that scar and give the missing movements back with some thoughtful and specific exercises.
What we did
We did two exercises.
* Arm spirals. The intention was to explore his right scapula protraction with shoulder internal rotation, and let that feed movement into his spine and neck. While he performed this movement, he also stretched his chest scar towards his mid-line with his left hand.See how you do with this arm spirals exercise (clip from my Liberated Body workshop):
If you followed along with that movement in your own body, you’ll have felt how your right arm internally rotating generates both a spine rotation and lateral flexion to the left. And by keeping your eyes on the horizon and head level, your neck would experience an oppositional lateral flexion to the right. These were the missing motions we wanted to give back to Jon.
After the arm spirals, we re-filmed Jon walking, and noticed a some subtle changes.
Check out the snapshot below:
Jon subjectively reported feeling slightly better access onto his left leg, which is great, but I knew we needed to get his head integrated with his body below as it STILL was stuck in that left lateral flexion.
So we decided to explore a second movement to focus more directly on opening up the left side of his neck and give back the missing right lateral flexion.
* Off axis pelvis shift right with neck lateral flexion right. The intention was to explore his access to neck lateral flexion to the right via the pelvis shifting and generating a spine lateral flexion to the left.We did a movement that looked like this:
Why didn’t we just do a plain old ear-to-shoulder static neck stretch? Why make it a whole body movement? Glad you asked.We explored his neck in this way is because of how in our walking cycle, the way our neck experiences lateral flexion is by staying still, eyes on the horizon, and our spine moves underneath it.
Here’s a little visual of that as a concept (clip from an online movement lesson on neck mechanics):
This oppositional motion between the neck and spine is KEY for having symmetrical access to both side of your body as you walk.
If Jon can’t laterally flex his neck to the right, then he won’t have great access to many of his missing mechanics, such as:
* Pelvis hike left
* Spine lateral flexion left
* Left hip adduction
* Stepping his left leg forward
Exploring neck lateral flexion right gave us some more cool changes. Check out these snapshots from his walking after working on his neck lateral flexion to the right:
Re-assessment
Jon reported feeling more centered with his head position and an even better sense of getting weight through his left leg. Win!
He also had better access into his left hike. In theory, this will correlate with an improvement in his right sided lower back pain, as he is able to move out of that compressive right pelvis hike he was originally stuck in, and access the opposite shape to the left, opening the compressed area.
Ready for his scapular protraction after video?
Pretty cool to see that evening out, which will also help him access more symmetrical spine and shoulder movements through his gait cycle.
I also love seeing a subtle change in his feet. That said, his left foot still stands out to me as an area that will need help as his next step in the process, having had a pretty gnarly sprain. Hopefully Jon will be able to give us some updates on his progress going forward!
Final thoughts?
A few key take-aways to reiterate:
* It’s not always about starting with the feet. In Jon’s case, we started at his neck and right shoulder to get a change in his body below. The important thing is to understand how the feet connect with the rest of the body, affecting it and affected by it. But we don’t have a rule in AiM of needing to help the feet first.
* Scars can have such a profound impact on our ability to access our mechanics around that area. Always check the impact of a scar. Often the body will reduce movement through that area. Not all scars mess with our movement, but it is always good to check.
* When you see a part of the body that stays in the exact same position throughout every single phase of gait (Jon’s neck), it is likely to be a good place to begin restoring missing movement potential. Especially if that is an area where there’s been an old injury that’s been untreated and unconsidered. In Jon’s case, a port put in.
I hope you enjoyed this case study! Stay tuned for more like this. I’ve been by at at least 3 people that they find these write-ups useful, so I’ll keep going, just for you.
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Forgive this jargony, technical breakdown of the knee, according to Gary Ward’s closed chain biomechanics. 5 people reading this might enjoy it.
* The knee in gait is best understood by looking at the articulation between the tibia and the femur.
* Our reference point for the knee joint is the position of the tibial tuberosity relative to the femur.
* The femur and tibia bones have two planes of motion they should ideally articulate against each other in: Sagittal (flexion and extension, plus a bit of anterior/posterior glide), and transverse (internal and external rotation). We should NOT see much in the frontal plane.
* There are two specific combinations of those two planes of motion we want to see in gait, and TWO ONLY:
* Flexion + External rotation (aka valgus)
* Extension + Internal rotation
* A knee hyperextension can only happen if we have the combination of extension and external rotation. This is NOT something we want to see happening in gait (sorry, Haider, but your body is doing it).
Knee external rotation refers to the internal rotation of the femur articulating on top of the tibia plateau into a range that is beyond how far the tibia internally rotates, leaving the tibia in an external rotation relative to the femur, and the knee joint itself thus in an external rotation. This happens with a knee that is bending on top of a pronating foot.
Knee internal rotation refers to the external rotation of the femur into articulating on top of the tibia plateau into a range that is beyond how far the tibia externally rotates, leaving the tibia in an internal rotation relative to the femur, and the knee joint itself thus in an internal rotation. This happens with a knee that is extending on top of a supinating foot.
Check out my very technical drawing:
Notice that the femur and tibia both rotate the same direction, but the range of the femur is greater than the tibia, which is what gives us the rotation at the knee joint. If both bones were to simply rotate the same amount, locked together as if they were one long leg bone, then there would be no rotation at the knee joint.
External rotation and flexion of the knee happens with a femur internally rotating and a pronating foot.
Internal rotation and extension of the knee happens with a femur externally rotating and a supinating foot.
I’m repeating myself so many times because this is the MOST common sticking point people have by far in the AiM course work. It took me a few years to really wrap my head about it. But I’m slow… Anyway. Back to Haider.
Haider’s Red Flag
In Haider’s case, the red flag was his left knee extending with a femur internally rotating, giving us a knee external rotation at a moment in time when we want it to be a nice rigid extended and internally rotated knee, not a squishy hyperextended knee going into a valgus position in the air (and then landing like that, too).
A valgus position of the knee will almost always indicate an internally rotated femur, and a femur that is internally rotated will almost always tell us there is an external rotation at the knee UNLESS the foot and tibia are internally rotated MORE than the femur.
But I digress. You may now be asking the all important question…
What to do with a hyperextending knee?
Give it back the mechanics it needs in the correct combinations as per closed chain biomechanics.
Haider’s knee is missing:
Flexion + external rotation (but is already externally rotated)
Extension + internal rotation (but is already extended)
So we want to give him back these two movements but managing the excessive motions where necessary.
Its a pretty common scenario to need to block how far someone is extending their knee and encourage more external rotation at the femur while avoiding hyperextension.
If you want to follow along with me for an hour of knee exploration, perhaps you would enjoy this Movement Deep Dive I filmed back in 2021. Ahh the good ol’ COVID online teaching days. Enjoy this guided movement practice focusing on conceptualizing and experiencing the movement of the knee.
But anyway, that was a big knee tangent. Let’s get back to a few of Haider’s other biomechanical foibles, shall we?
What about that right ankle, Haider?
Something subtle that stood out in Haider’s mid-stance phase was an early heel lift on the right that I didn’t see on the left. So I asked:
Did anything happen to your right ankle? Your TCJ seems to be missing dorsiflexion compared to your left...
To which Haider Replied:
“I’ve had multiple ankle sprains on both sides but my most recent (~5 years ago) was on my right. You’re right, my right ankle DF is less than my left”
And what about your right hip?
All throughout Haider’s gait he stays in a right pelvis hike and his mass never seems to get fully off of his right leg, so I was curious and asked:
Do you have any issues with your right hip or lower back? (because of how it seems like your pelvis stays hiked on the right and your mass doesn't shift to the left to ABduct your right hip... Groin or hip flexor grumpiness at all?)
And Haider replied:
“My right hip is generally bit stiffer into external rotation and abduction. So I do have more adductor resistance to stretch on the right”.
Interesting stuff.
Final remarks
As you can see, there are a few things going on. Where would we start?
It isn’t necessarily as simple as saying “encourage pronation mechanics on his left and supination on his right”, because each leg is a little mixed up with elements of both.
For example, his right leg needs:
PRONATION MECHANICS:
* TCJ dorsiflexion (that early heel lift…)
SUPINATION MECHANICS:
* Hip extension, abduction, external rotation
* Pelvis drop
And his left leg needs:
PRONATION MECHANICS:
* Knee flexion
* Pelvis hike
* Hip adduction
SUPINATION MECHANICS:
* Knee internal rotation
* Femur external rotation
Nothing really wraps up neatly into one phase, so with Haider it might be an approach of tackling the local mechanics and then building them out holistically to combine with more joints into the phases over time.
I personally would start with the thing that stands out the most to me, which is his discombobulated knee. Start with the thing that looks the most blaringly obvious, reassess, and follow the next best bread-crumb.
Anyway, hope you found this gait analysis at least a little bit interesting and useful.
My hopes is that these analysis videos help students studying the Flow Motion Model and Anatomy in Motion to apply the mechanics to their work with clients, and perhaps even help those who want to go on to do the accredited practitioner exam (part of which includes doing a gait analysis).
If you have any questions or commentary, or would like to submit your own gait video for scrutiny, feel free to drop me a line.
Want to learn AiM in the classroom
Nothing beats mental masturbation as a learning method than actually getting into a live classroom and putting this work into your body experientially, and practicing using the assessments on others.
For those wishing to study in-person, I will be teaching the AiM Closed Chain Biomechanics course this June 6-8 2025 in Toronto. GO HERE for more info and to register, if you dig it :)
