 Good morning everybody I Am Isabel again, and this morning my session is about accessible movement. So we're going to talk about movement from the perspective of Limitations people who have chronic conditions people who have Who work with that patient population and people who have gone a long time without movement? And they need to get back to being able to have that ability So what is accessibility? Can somebody tell me what what you think accessible means? Having options. Okay. What else? Available okay, what else what does accessibility mean to you? Achievable very good. Yes. Okay, so Accessibility simply means having the option to access a certain set of Systems or entities. Okay, and when it comes to movement a lot of people are shy They don't feel welcome in participation Because they simply don't have that access to do the things that are being required to do right and some of my personal story for example in 2016 I was having a great deal of trouble being able to reach just the cups in my cupboard because of Shoulder pain I have hypermobility And being able to move certain parts of my body was incredibly painful, right? On my way here. I was able to pick up my very heavy because I packed way too much luggage and Put it above the head compartment But it's taking a lot of years for me to be able to do that That wasn't accessible for me in the past and it's taking a lot of people a lot of systems a lot of practice and A lot of opportunities for me to be able to reach that level of mobility and that's my goal for other people Unfortunately Not everybody can reach all the levels because sometimes there are there's damage that has occurred that it's very difficult to repair and gain Full mobility, but my goal for the clients that I work with It's to work with the goals that they do have so what do they want to do in terms of movement What do they want to achieve and how do they want to maintain it? So that's what we want to do so That's why movement needs to be accessible because people are coming from all different levels of abilities and Not only abilities. They have different levels of resources, right? So for somebody who is able to go hiking every single day and practice that movement in nature They're going to gain that level of ability perhaps much faster than someone who works at a desk all day Maybe somebody in a corporate environment who has to wear restrictive clothing that even within that environment It's not as easy to facilitate movement within the place that they are in order to achieve their goals So all of those things have to be considered in order for people to reach the level of movement ability that they They hope to reach okay So what do we need to take into consideration when we are even starting to make those goals? The first thing that we have to consider is Awareness right if we're not aware of what things are keeping us from reaching that ability Then we can't work on those things right so the awareness of the ability or the limitations that we have as well as the Awareness of the environment that we have to work with right We also have to work on Rehabilitation one of the things that we talk about a lot is foundational movements so our feet if you've been shot and Tied shoes all of your life right your feet are now going to be able to move freely in Many different environments, so we have to start with rehabilitation And then from rehabilitation we work on Progression right so being able to progress Given the level of ability of each individual right? Okay, so this morning. We're going to do some partner work So I want you to identify a partner that you can work with Okay, and feel comfortable if you feel comfortable with that partner doing some some touch so they can facilitate Some of the movement that we want to do then I want you to identify the partner to do that. Okay so What are some of the foundational movements that we do on our daily life just in order to get by? Activities of daily living, you know getting in and out of the car going up and down the stairs if we have the ability to do that Going through the airport, etc. So what are some of those foundational movements that we get to do? Walking and what what's involved in walking? Balance what else? Yes Yes, yes Your gate. Yes breathing absolutely, okay Propioception is a huge one. Yes, and we're going to talk a little bit about that too What else what what's another foundational movement that you do? In order to get through your day Lifting yes, so that's a foundational movement. What else do you do that? Necessitates lifting that's also a foundational movement Bending so hinging right Yes, and that's you need more hinging in order to do that as well. What else? Very good when you're opening a door. What are you doing? Right pulling and Pushing okay, so a lot of those are foundational movements and we take a lot of them for granted Right, but for a lot of people those movements are very difficult they They cause pain Okay, they don't have the ability to do that movement at a complete level So someone might have to in order to just open a door open a little bit Step and open a little more because they don't have the ability to do that push Motion right and I know that because I've been in that situation So with all that said, let's get up and let's do some movement and Let's try to stay close to the partner that we have identified and if you're not able to get up and Come all the way down here. I want you to stay next to a chair so you can Don't be shy come on in Okay So we're going to do some foundational things even before Even before we can talk about Foundational movement we need to talk about and recognize and bring awareness of The foundation that we need to use in order to get those foundational movements going okay So if you can either take off your shoes If you don't feel comfortable taking them off we can pretend Okay, and I want you to pretend you're picking something off the floor with your toes Okay That's a micro movement That's incredibly important for food health Okay, so open your toes and And pretend you're picking something up, okay You see how much it requires not just from your toes, but the movement on your ankle Okay, if you're not able to do that on your own if you need to hold on to a chair That's why I've put them in there. You can hold on to the to the seats in the auditorium as well So let's pretend that we're doing that now if you can Just with that Pick up the item Hold it between your toes and then bring that to your ankle Okay, I see a lot of toes that have come off So let's try that again bring it down Hold that item between your toes Right and bring it to your ankle and And keep that item in between your toes Okay, so can somebody tell me how many things are you using within that small movement? Okay, what are you using you're using balance, okay So if you have no balance to begin with how can you even do that, right? So that's something that a lot of people unfortunately are lacking and we need to work on that Even further back foundation in order to be able to perform that movement, right? What else do we need? What else are we doing? Toe strength, right? So if your feet are in this position I can't even get mine that close anymore all day long. All right. They're being compressed they're being um What do you call it encased and The feet are not able to develop movement and the strength that comes from that movement You're not going to be able to grasp the things that you need You're not going to be able to have the strength for that grasp. Correct, right and then We have the movement of the ankle, right that we need to bring it to another part of our body Right, so if you're looking to go from here To picking something up with your toes because your hands are for whatever reason occupied Right, you are not able to do that So what I want you to focus on on this movement Is the fact that some of you can do this very easily and you may be taking it for granted But for a lot of people there is a lot that needs to happen before we can even get to that point. Okay Now let's look at Balance. Can you balance on one foot? Okay And if you cannot do that, I want you to modify it and start from here so Start by just lifting the front of your foot and leaving it on the ground, right That requires even that still requires Balance more balance than you do if you're standing on both feet Right And that's how you can start to practice So instead of going from something big that you know, perhaps it's not possible for you You can step back step back step back and break every movement into something smaller So you can build the ability from the ground up and be able to do it So let's see the awareness of where we are So let's do that balance from having our heel right On the floor, okay Let's lift our heel on the floor and please hold on to the chair if that's what you need to do Okay, let's bring that to your ankle Okay, and then let's bring that Up so What are we doing to maintain that balance? What do we need? What do we need We need proprioception. What else do we need? We need we need strength to maintain that balance, right? So can you see that if somebody is Grasping with pain in their left hip that doing this movement is not even possible Right, so we need to take that layer back and rehabilitate and take care of the foundation of where that pain is even coming from Okay, there is something that happens with fascia and connective tissue. Are you guys all Are you all familiar with fascia? Okay, so fascia has tensile strength Right and one of the things that happens in Folks like me who have connective tissue disorders is that that tensile strength of the fascia is lost So with that loss the muscles now tense up in order to Be able to hold on to your structure so and with that loss and that And that increased tension in the muscle comes pain, right? So one of the things that I experience very often is pain In in my articulation So we have if I'm doing this, but I'm experiencing pain in here I need to make sure that the strength In that side of my body is present so I can do the motion that I need to do Okay, so let's do that on the opposite side and see if it's any better or worse Let's start with our heel Okay, and now Let's bring that heel up Of the ground Okay, and I want you to observe is your balance better or worse on that side Okay, bring it to your ankle Okay, and bring it up And please hold on to the chair if you need to okay. Do you observe anything besides the worst balance? Is there anything that you feel that's different from this side to the other? Okay What else more fatigue? Okay What else anybody feels any pinching any pain and in discomfort? Okay nerve pain, okay So that is the foundation of what we need to do is observe Okay, practice this foundational movements And then we observe how our body feels In those movements because if we don't even have the basic level of awareness How can we work on? You know moving forward from there. Okay now if you need to hold on to the chair Do that, please and now we're going to work on stepping up Okay, so what do you need to step up on a You know the stairs or you're going, you know uphill. What do you need to do? What are you moving? Just look at my foot and tell me how many things are in motion Okay, everything from the bottom down pretty much is in motion, right? And I need to have good proprioception to know where my body is in space as well Right, so I don't step off. So I don't step on something that's Sharp or hurtful and hurt myself in some way. So let's do that motion Let's start with our left Now let's pretend there's an obstacle in the way and that we have to go To the side We're going through narrow stairs and we're going through the side Okay, now what did you observe in that? How did that feel? Okay, what else? There is a stretch. Yes There's actually a little bit of a stretch in both. Yes Okay So and we're all going to feel things a little bit different Right based on our own structural composition and where our body is in this Pointing time. So let's do the other side. Okay Let's go up the stairs And now let's do our obstacle and go to the side So how did that feel? How's that different from the other one Anybody observed any difference or did it feel pretty much the same? on the right side You are on the left. Okay So more coordination So we have a lot of the time a lot of imbalances, right from one side of the body to the other And we don't take time to stop and observe those things and to be able to say, okay Am I overcompensating on one side and doing everything on that side all the time? So that side perhaps is stronger. Okay. Am I overcompensating because I have maybe pain in one side and I am Not necessarily overcompensated on one side, but plainly avoiding Using the other side of my body. Okay. I have scoliosis. So I have to be very very conscious That I am not overusing my right side Because my left side tends to be more painful because of this scoliosis Okay, so let's move on to some rotation in the hips. So we're going to do this As if we are crossing an obstacle So we're going over Use the chair if you need the balance And then what did you observe on that movement? Can you do the entire rotation? And then let's do the other side Okay So that's how we often have to break down things in order to be able to Advance I know that we all like to go and go and go But being able to take those steps back when you don't have the full capability Especially for that movement and being able to strengthen from the ground up is really important There's a lot of times that I use tools To do this these are two-nup bowls for example, and I work with this a lot to Release the fascia, right? So I use this Um on my I can't lean on that But lean on a wall use it on your arms use it on your legs I have smaller ones from these and these are amazing for the feet So you can roll it under your feet and stretch that fascia Especially if you go all day, you know wearing regular shoes if you have to Or you you do choose to you know wear heels of any type Then that is a wonderful release for your fascia because when you're wearing heels What happens is that your calf muscles are getting shortened, right? So then that's when you go back to the ground That's pulling and that shortened muscle is it's going to cause tension and pain Um and lack of mobility. So if you use this to release that fascia, that's very very helpful Another tool that I use a lot and this is not you know for exercises or because I'm looking for cute glutes But because this is the great release for the hips, you know when you add Resistance to what you're doing It gives you the ability to recover that tensile strength of the fascia that we were talking about And when that tensile strength is present Then that's going to encapsulate better your muscles your Joints and everything in your body in order to be able to perform everything that you need to perform Okay, so we can do this with our arms Okay, and what I want you to do with your partner really quick is I want you to have your partner resist On one side and I want you to open the arm on the other side Okay, so push And you're going to be one push in and one is pulling In order to do the movement. Okay, there we go So like this like that. Yeah like this So you're going to push in and you're going to push the other way and add that resistance Okay All right guys And we're now out of time Um, so we're going to be stopping here But thank you for staying for the session and what I want you to do is to stay in your awareness Stay on your awareness of how these things feel so you can then break it down and participate in your own movement All right. Thank you everybody Thank you so much, you know a lot of the movement sessions are not accessible to everyone I think this is a movement session was accessible to everyone and everyone could participate big round of applause. Thank you