Are your muscles truly tight, or is your brain limiting range of motion? 

By: Peter Stamos

As a healthcare professional, you encounter a range of challenges, and your effectiveness largely depends on your experience. Over time, you will come to realize that certain principles remain constant regardless of the situation. One crucial understanding is that the human body consistently seeks to minimize threats and maintain safety.

In a gym setting, this means that the quality of movement is greatly influenced by how your brain perceives safety. If your brain senses a threat, it will restrict your range of motion until it feels secure again.

Additionally, the techniques you use to assist individuals should focus on reducing perceived threats rather than provoking them. If an exercise causes pain, this serves as a signal from your brain to change your approach. This doesn’t imply that you should abandon the exercise entirely; instead, it suggests that you should adjust certain variables within the exercise to make it less intimidating.

A common exercise that many people struggle with is the one-legged squat or balancing on one leg. If you find this challenging, try performing the exercise on both sides of your body. Did you notice any differences between the two sides? If so, approach a wall, place one finger on it for support, and attempt the exercise on the weaker side. Did you notice a significant improvement in your performance? Chances are, you did. So why did this work? The reason this worked is that the instability that you noticed during your first attempt was reduced by adding the touch on the wall. Once the brain recognized it was safe, it allowed you to perform the exercise without restrictions.

If you would like to learn more about this topic, please watch this video from ZHealth.