Re: Gain and Loss of Motor Skill

[Guest guest]

I think one aspect that often gets overlooked when talking of motor

skills is the sensory nervous system. After all we cannot act until

we have something to act upon. A stimuli elicits a reaction whether

appropriate or not for that particular time. The 'firing and wiring'

of neurons during any act does not guarantee efficient movement. The

more we perform an action the better we get at doing it in that

fashion - we cannot necessarily differeniate between good and bad

movement. As most of us never think about the movement - only the

desired result - we are invariably oblivious to the mechanics

involved. For example when your telephone rings do you stop to think

about how you respond. I accept that sports such as weight lifting

requires this sort of attention to detail DURING the activity - but

what about outside of the gym? This could explain why the simple

everyday acts can become inefficient - such as standing and sitting.

Poor recruitment can lead to an habitual state of excessive

contraction in certain muscles for any type of movement. This will

impede the function of the stretch reflex as a 'tight' muscle is less

sensitive to changes in load and balance etc. Once the efficiency of

one of the main inputs into the sensory system is in question all

resulting reactions are due to partial or corrupt information and

therefore cannot possible be appropriate.

A re-education programme has to take into account the underlying

condition that allowed the degradation to happen in the first place.

Simply trying to concentrate on technique is not enough. An

individual needs to be guided through simple movements (initially )

whilst being made aware of unnecessay preparations they habitually

feel they have to do. The example of getting out of a chair is a

classic example. The majority will pull back the head by stiffening

the neck and shoulders, usually accompanied by tightening the lower

back. If the re-education programme does not address the habit

of 'getting set' it is not strictly speaking re-education.

Roy Palmer MSTAT

Member of The Society of

Teachers of The Technique

Bedford

United Kingdom

[Guest guest]

From: " Roy Palmer " <roy@...>

> I think one aspect that often gets overlooked when talking of motor

> skills is the sensory nervous system. After all we cannot act until

> we have something to act upon. A stimuli elicits a reaction whether

> appropriate or not for that particular time. The 'firing and wiring'

> of neurons during any act does not guarantee efficient movement. The

> more we perform an action the better we get at doing it in that

> fashion - we cannot necessarily differeniate between good and bad

> movement. As most of us never think about the movement - only the

> desired result - we are invariably oblivious to the mechanics

> involved. For example when your telephone rings do you stop to think

> about how you respond. I accept that sports such as weight lifting

> requires this sort of attention to detail DURING the activity - but

> what about outside of the gym? This could explain why the simple

> everyday acts can become inefficient - such as standing and sitting.

This brings up an interesting question. How do we learn to move properly in

the first place? By that I mean: let us say hypothetically that as adults

we " unlearn " good movement patterns. How did we learn good patterns in the

first place, or did we? Do humans instinctively move properly, then get

into bad habits? I don't know the answer, so perhaps folks would care to

comment on the relative state of our original body sin.

Krista

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