Friday, June 22, 2007

More On Bone Rhythms and Pain

I've been practicing these a lot this week with my Back Squat. After straining my right psoas last week on a 2-Hand Anyhow, the squats were a little rough earlier in the week--couldn't find a comfortable position. I should've stopped, but I didn't--Franz called it like he saw it: I'm an addict.

Here's the coolest thing about the Bone Rhythm (BR) work: when you get it right, movements are literally effortless. I performed approximately 12 sets of 2 yesterday just before my MRI (gotta get that knee really pissed off so it shows up real good on the film...) with only 105kg. There were only 2 reps that created any discomfort in my knee. The bar felt like a broomstick on my back. The only frustrating thing is that my squat technique has changed due to the BR work so it feels like I'm literally staring at the floor between my feet when I'm in the bottom--but the cool thing is I'm no longer visually dependent--my eyes aren't in a fixed position during the squat--they move with the body. Another cool thing about the BR work is that it's designed to fully stimulate the joint mechanorecpetors thereby increasing proprioception (By the way, this does mean you can train and improve your balance without even standing on a wobbly board.) and therefore motor control and therefore, strength.

Back to the strained psoas: It didn't go away on it's own and I didn't know which tools to use in my Z toolbox to fix it, so I broke down and "cheated" and went to the chiro for some ART. I used to be addicted to that stuff. Good guy the chiro and he means well. He treated my multifidus and psoas and "adjusted" my right SI which he said was stuck. It wasn't. When he adjusted me, the adjustment was actually around L2-L3. Anyway, pain never really went away. I got ahold of Dr. Cobb who suggested some ideas, and of course, they worked. Why didn't the ART work? Cause it was painful--it was nocioceptive stimuli. How much sense does it make to put the body in more pain to get it out of pain? Huh?

Here's another thing regarding many of our "treatments:" They don't work right away and they take several sessions or more. Why?

Why is it so difficult for many/most of my colleagues to believe that Z works instantly/instantaneously? Because nothing else does so we're conditioned to believe that Z falls into the "If it's too good to be true..." category.

But here's the thing: Z is just a tool to ask the body the right question so you can give it the right answer. It uses the body's own inherent wisdom it was created with to get it out of pain and into high level performance.

Brad Nelson writes about a similar experience in his blog. Here's the link below:

http://kineticedgeperformance.com/blog.php

They are very similar to my own personal experience with Z-Health.

I've said this before many times and I'll continue to shout it from the rooftops:

Z-Health is "it."

It's the "thing" we've all been looking for.

It delivers what every other system promises but fails to deliver (with the exception of the RKC).

Z always works. Always. It just may not work in the manner you intended it, which simply means you didn't know what question to ask the body or misinterpreted and answer it gave you previously.

Z just builds upon itself allowing the body to recapture the maliability and plasticity it had when you were two years old. Imagine moving like that only better. That's what Z does for the body.

Forget balance pads, foam rollers, and TvA activation drills. They work for a short period of time just because they're different input/stimulus for the CNS. Then the results stop. Stop wasting time. If you're a trainer/coach, you need Z in your toolbox. You'll be a better trainer/coach and your clients/athletes will reap the results.

Here endeth the lesson.

6 Comments:

Blogger Mark Reifkind said...

two questions:
1) what exactly is 'bone rythym' work?

2) if z works all the time why the need for 're-adjustments'?
i.e. once the new pattern is set why doesnt it stay set?

7:04 AM  
Blogger Geoff Neupert said...

1- Bone rhythm is having each end of a bone (your joints) move synchronously and simultaneously through any given movement, i.e.: instead of initiating a squat with the hips, the hips knees and ankles all move at the same time and at the same speed.

2-Z works all the time maybe just not the way you expect it. It's like punching in the wrong numbers on your calculator. It wasn't the result you expected, but it was a result. And why doesn't the new pattern stay set? Motor learning. You have to get the reps in for the pattern to become autonomous otherwise the CNS falls back to the preset pattern which was engrained through reps...Also, one pattern, like a squat, is a series of patterns all occuring at different joints. You can retrain patterns at some joints and miss the patterns at others, for example, me missing my left shoulder and failing to see how that affected my right knee.

Make sense?

The key here is intent: Z seeks to make changes in the CNS, the operating system FIRST, not the soft tissues...They are slaves to the CNS. The quickest way to make changes to the CNS is thru the joints, not the soft tissues. More proprioceptors (mechanoreceptors) in the joints than soft tissues (muscles).

Make sense?

9:46 AM  
Blogger Mark Reifkind said...

yes it does geoff.I just think it sounds very, very complicated.especially for the average person to try to figure out and balance all these patterns, as well as ascertain when and why a pattern isnt 'right' and or sticking.I think it is ALL complicated for the average joe or jane to get in touch with their bodies and 'grok' what is right and what is detrimental to them.again, I conceur that the cns patterning is critical to avoid a repeat of the pain and restrictions that can occur with faulty movement patterns. good stuff.
btw kevin and jess are doing great.

7:29 AM  
Blogger Frankie Faires said...

Geoff and Rif,

Great discussion.

Rif, do you recall some time back me mentioning the thixotrophic effect?

Geoff is correct on applied motor learning theory. Beyond greasing the groove of a new (fluctuating) motor skill, a reason why NS adaptation isn't permanent is that tissue adapts at a different rate than the NS (slower).

To change a pattern requires that you reverse the inertia of both the nervous system and the connective tissue system.

10:08 PM  
Blogger Geoff Neupert said...

Thanks, Frankie. I haven't seen many of your post lately. What've you been up to?

shoot me an email. geoff.neupert@gmail.com

Thanks.

6:59 PM  
Blogger Mike T Nelson said...

Great stuff!

Nice to see you here Frankie!

Rif, I don't think Z is so complicated that it is beyond the grasp of most trainers. The R Phase cert does an excellent job of guiding you through all of it. The key is to let go temporarily of what you have learned and take each item to its logical conclusion. I do agree that it is complicated "from the outside" trying to figure it alll out (also the reason the cert is 6 days). Maybe others that have done the R Phase cert can comment.

Thanks
Mike N

10:26 AM  

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