Structure or Function?

We had the opportunity to host our first Redcord Neurac training here at CHARM a couple weeks ago. A question that often rises to the surface of discussion among musculoskeletal health practitioners is whether structure – the position of the bones – dictates the function of the system, or whether the function of the system dictates the position of the bones – structure.

I think we can all agree it is both. But I feel we often give too much power to the structure of our skeleton being this difficult to move or change form that dictates how our body functions. We see a leg length discrepancy and jump to placing a lift under the short side. We see scoliosis and considerate it a fate that can only get worse with age. We see pronation of a foot and call it the cause of our problems instead of the victim.

Yet, as we have discussed before, the human body is an intricate model of tensegrity – We are not simply victims of our structure, we are the creators of it. From rounded shoulder posture, to leg length, to foot pronation, we can significantly influence our structure through the functional tension integrity of our amazing bodies.

Let me give you a cool example. This young soccer player was having knee pain and shin splints. As you can see from her before photo, she had obvious right vs. left structural asymmetry especially into excessive external rotation of the right femur. We assessed numerous muscle imbalances through both muscle testing and weak links in the myofascial chains using testing in the Neurac. We chose the Redcord Neurac method to work on her neuromuscular control through closed chain, body-weight supported, suspension exercises. This method targets multi-segmental motor control within the kinetic chains, which is a fancy way of saying how the human body optimally “functions.”

 

As you can see in the after photo, we significantly changed the structure of this young lady’s lower extremity position by changing the way the muscles were firing and functioning. This is a great example of how we use the Redcord Neurac method at CHARM as a powerful tool in identifying weak links in the kinetic chain and improving muscle balance and control to change someone’s structure which resulted in decreased pain and improved performance on the field.

 

Here is a video to learn more about the Redcord Neurac method.

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