An article published on interconnectedness

Look how famous I am.  The following is an article I wrote that was published in the upcoming issue of OnFitness magazine (March/April 2014).  I hope the paparazzi doesn't start hounding me again…

Before getting into the definition and discussion of interconnected body regions, let’s first review situations or client experiences that proved to be especially challenging.
Have you ever had clients say things like, “this side of my body just doesn’t work and feel like the other side.”  Or perhaps you give them an exercise but regardless of all the cueing and imagery you can think to offer, their form remains poor.
At times, some clients will complain of discomfort with an exercise that seems mysterious.  Take planks for example.  Some clients complain of low back discomfort with planks that doesn’t improve with positional changes, form corrections, and so on.
Instead of assuming this person or client just shouldn’t do that exercise or eliminating certain movements from their program, consider the following.
When one portion of the body is out of alignment, or not in its neutral position, other parts of the body will have to compensate for that misalignment.
Take for example the foot.  If you intentionally take someone’s foot and externally add a structure that forces that foot into excessive supination, there will be resulting compensations throughout the entire body.
The supinated foot will not remain the only changed body part, but rather will cause a subsequent external rotation of the tibia.  That will in turn cause an external rotation of the femur.  Then the pelvis gets a crack at compensation, and in this particular scenario, will often rotate forward on the side of altered position.  Now you’re up into the spine, which can present with any number of compensations.
That’s the cornerstone of the discussion of interconnectedness.  When one body part changes or is out of proper alignment, the rest of the body must adapt to that new reality.
        The leg bone’s connected to the hip bone
As in the case above, excessive supination of one foot can have a profound effect up the entire biomechanical chain.  For this person described, they might be complaining of lower back pain due to the compensatory rotation.
You can give them the best core stabilization program in the history of exercise, but until the actual problem is fixed, in this case the foot position, their back pain will remain unchanged.
Thinking back to those tricky clients or scenarios that were not changed with proper cueing and attempted form correction, it is reasonable to assume there is an area of the body that is misaligned and therefore causing the problem.
        How do you find the problem?
The answer to this question can get highly detailed and challenging for even the most senior trainers and physical therapists.  Pinpointing the singular biggest positional fault within the entire body can seem a daunting task.
Initially, start with standing posture.  It seems like a terrifically simple thing and potentially not what you’d consider a productive training session, but huge secrets are hidden in someone’s posture.
What you are looking for is symmetry and neutrality.  Think of the body segments as building blocks.  If the blocks are stacked perfectly atop each other, the vertical forces passing through those segments will be distributed evenly.
If you take a stack of blocks and offset one block in relation to the other, that same vertical force will cause the whole stack to fail and come crashing down.
The same applies to the body.  If a person stands with their thorax laterally translated in relation to the pelvis, any vertical forces will cause a site of failure.  Failure equals pain.
As is possible, design your early sessions or part of the prescribed routine to correct these postural abnormalities.  Sometimes simple corrections will keep a person moving a pain free with incredible efficiency.
After standing posture is observed, you should also look at the body alignment during the activity of interest.  If the problematic exercise is planks, assess the posture of the body in that particular position.
Again, what you are looking to find are areas that are not symmetrical and neutral.  Not surprisingly, these problem areas can be anywhere from the toes to the top of the cranium.  What you’re looking for however is the big thing that seems incorrect.
Is the pelvis rotated?  Does one side of the rib cage seem higher than the other?  Is one knee slightly bent when compared to the other?  Is one scapula in a different position than the other?
Once you find what seems to be the most significant positional problem, try to fix it.  This can be done giving the person verbal cues, or even taking a photo of the problem and showing it to them.  Making their brain aware of what their body is doing can make huge changes.
You can also use gentle tactile cues.  If their pelvis is rotated, gently attempt to rotate it back and ask them to hold that new position.
The possibilities abound and time should be spent working on the most notable areas of poor alignment.  If that magical cure doesn’t happen with one correction, get creative and try another.
The body wants to be properly aligned.  It’s how it works most efficiently and when you give that gift to a client’s body, it will be thankful.
Experiment with interconnectedness and how small changes make large contributions to overall biomechanical neutrality.  The answer to those tricky clients is often easier than you might have thought.  Just step back, take a look, and don’t be afraid to make changes.