It's Your Move London
It's Your Move
It's your move
2008 Author: Gavin Burt
Most of us at least have an idea of the importance of movement in our lives.
Gavin Burt explains the importance of movement.
Some of us choose to move as little as possible
Most of us at least have an idea of the importance of movement in our lives. Some of us choose to move as little as possible, save for the odd walk to the corner shop (when the car has broken down), some of us choose to move in moderation (how boring, but intelligent), and some of us choose to move so much that we end up wearing our joints out!
Whatever we choose to do, we cannot escape movement being an integral part of our lives. In fact it is so important that death itself can be quite accurately defined as the total absence of movement. How many people do you know who have chosen to be half-dead by moving and exercising as little as possible? Many of the people you see around you who are fatigued, ill, ill-tempered, with high blood pressure and cholesterol, and questionable blood sugar levels, are those who have chosen (or have been forced by circumstance) not to include movement and activity in their lives.
All parts of the body move. Our bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons all move, but so do our internal organs. Blood courses through our veins and arteries, as does air through our lungs, and urine through our kidneys. Chemicals are constantly being pumped into and out of our cells, the liver never stops filtering toxins from our blood, the stomach and intestines mulch our food and transport it through us, taking the necessary nutrients out of it along the way.
The body is a really busy place. In fact there is nothing in our body that is static at all. Our blood pressure is never constant, but normally moves around a healthy point, and although our heart beats at an average of let’s say 60 beats per minute, it speeds up and slows down quite considerably as we breathe in and out.
Movement is crucial to the development of the foetus and to the development of the baby and child. It is crucial to our health and longevity in later life, and to our successful healing following injury.
Being an osteopath I am in love with movement. In fact, the whole point of my job is to seek out areas of the body that do not move properly, and to encourage them to move in the way they should. So forgive me if during this article I get a bit nerdy about movement!
Movement to help babies develop
From a very early age movement is central to our development as human beings.
As a simple foetus, we start off with one long straight tube extending from what will be our mouth to what will become our bottom. At some point this tube begins to twist around itself, much like wringing out a flannel. It is this twisting that results in the development of our intestines and the organs associated with it. If the twisting movement is halted for whatever reason, this can result in the baby being born with congenital abnormalities.
When babies a...