Pain can be a complex phenomenon, and complex systems are often nested. That means the system as a whole is composed of smaller subsystems, which are also composed of smaller subsystems and so forth. The reason this is interesting from a practical perspective is that each nested system provides a different level from which we can attempt to explain and treat pain.
I just came across a very interesting article linked by Diane Jacobs on Facebook titled All Tip No Iceberg: A New Way to Think about Mental Illness. Diane said that this might also be a good way to think about pain. I agree! Here's a brief summary of some of the ideas in the article.
Read MoreAccording to very smart guy Dan Dennett, we use very different kinds of thinking tools to predict the behavior of different systems, depending in part on the system’s complexity. In this post I'll describe three levels of analysis described by Dennett that we can use to understand the body: the physical stance, the design stance and the intentional stance.
Read MoreWhat’s the difference between a guru and an expert? The dictionary assigns the two words the same basic meaning: someone with a high level of knowledge in a particular field. But the term guru definitely has an unwholesome connotation. People respect experts, but worship gurus, imagining they have totally unrealistic levels of knowledge and power. In the context of science, that's a problem.
Read MoreI just got back from an enjoyable three-day multi-family camping trip. Like several other camping trips or vacations, it for some reason prompted me to write a short blog post. Which is good, because I should really be writing more frequent short blog posts and not just infrequent long blog posts.
Read MoreI recently finished the above-titled book by Frans Bosch. It's one of those books where you do a lot of underlining. It's also one of the best books on movement I’ve read in a while so I decided to write a review and (rather lengthy) summary of the some of the ideas I found interesting.
Read MorePain and movement are pretty complicated right? In a sense yes. But in another sense no. Pain and movement are not complicated, they are complex, which is a different animal.
Imagine you are Elon Musk trying to send a rocket ship to the moon. What sort of thinking process, analysis, modeling, research, predictions, and methods of control would help solve this problem? How would that process be different from solving the problem of say, raising a child?
Read MoreSome movements are more about gathering information than executing a task.
Read MoreThis very cool study provides an amazing example of the stunning complexity and sophistication of the motor control system in coordinating a seemingly simple activity like running.
Read MoreIn this post and a follow-up, I will review some basic concepts from DST, and how you can use them with clients. After reading this, you might conclude that DST helps explain some of the practices and intuitions of some great movement coaches.
Read MoreWe can better understand the complexity of chronic pain, and its relationship to other multi-symptom disorders, by learning something about systems theory. The basic idea is that chronic pain is often driven by dysregulation of a “supersystem” that coordinates defensive responses to injury. The supersystem results from dynamic interaction between different subsystems, most notably the nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system.
Read MoreThis blog is focused on the central nervous system - how it affects the way we move and feel, and what we can do to change its function in that regard. But that doesn't imply that the structure of the body is unimportant, or that good movement is “all in your head.” The structure and health of the musculoskeletal system are essential for quality movement, just as a mechanically sound car is required for safe driving.
Read MoreI really enjoy studying biomechanics. I find it totally fascinating to learn, for example, that a certain muscle is very well suited to stabilize a joint, but not to move it through a large range of motion; or that it is active in one movement but not another; or that it becomes atrophied in people with chronic pain. I think this kind of detective work is very cool and I always look forward to applying it to help one of my clients. But that is where things get frustrating, because with biomechanics, as with so many other subjects, the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know as much as you would like to know. And sometimes you don't know enough for your treatment protocols to make any sense.
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