A healthy person is one who has good compensatory abilities. He or she also has a range of optimal and effective postural and movement strategies in daily living. Symptoms result from running out of compensatory strategies, leaving tissues compromised. A person in pain or with a movement dysfunction then has a limited repertoire of possible movement strategies, limited by pain, muscle imbalance and change in the way the tissues send and receive information from the central nervous system. Pain and injury cycles are created. Pain inhibits muscle functioning as a protective mechanism and the vicious cycle continues.

An experienced practitioner knows what is optimal and can observe and test for discrepancies. Knowing where to start, adjustments are made to properly align, release restrictions and connect the right muscles. This takes the body out of the rut and helps it to find more optimal strategies that require fewer and less drastic compensations.

Trina Lee
Registered Physiotherapist
West End, Vancouver