Ortho-Bionomy - How does it Work?

What is Ortho-Bionomy?

Ortho-Bionomy® works on the proprioceptive reflexes in the body; these reflexes are part of the feedback system in the muscular skeletal system. The proprioceptive reflexes give you information about where your body is and how it is moving. To feel your proprioceptive reflexes, shut your eyes and move your arms around. You should be able to feel direction, speed and momentum of the movements.

The nervous system is set up to use the feedback from the proprioceptive reflexes to change how the body moves. For example, the subtalar joint in the ankle has the second most abundant number of proprioceptive reflexes (the most is found in the middle ear). These allow you to make fine adjustments to how you move when you are walking on uneven surfaces and allow you to compensate for changes in the surface before you put your weight on your foot. Often when people strain or sprain the ankle, these receptors are not as efficient, which means further injuries and falls are more likely (the good news is that an Ortho-bionomy session can sort this out).

In general we have proprioceptive reflexes in the belly of the muscle and in the joints. We don’t, however, have proprioceptive reflexes showing us where our bones are. This sounds trivial but this is the cause of many of our chronic painful conditions. We have to infer where our bones are from how we move.

When we are experiencing pain, the natural response is for the muscles to tighten up and brace the painful area, preventing movement (and therefore more pain). However, this also prevents feedback, so the system cannot find its own way to release the painful area. If you can put information into the system that allows the nervous system to locate the bones, and therefore release the muscle tension, this then enables your own body to realign the skeletal system. Getting Ortho-bionomy will help to change postural issues so the bones are aligned to better support your body and enable you to move more fluidly without restriction or pain.

Your body’s natural ability to self-correct is something we often take for granted. An example of this is when you have a sore back when you go to bed, but when you wake, the pain has gone. Your body has corrected itself. Ortho-bionomy uses this ability to self-correct to help the body change postural issues as well as chronically painful conditions that the body can’t resolve by itself.

The proprioceptive reflexes are easily overwhelmed by the pain receptors, so during a session we are interested in finding a comfortable position. This allows the body to learn from the proprioceptive reflexes rather than react to the pain. Communicating clearly about what you are experiencing (e.g., pain or comfort) enables the practitioner to fine-tune the session to your body.

 

Ortho-Bionomy also works with tension patterns in the body associated with mental and emotional issues. For instance grief, heartbreak, trauma etc.

By helping to balance the sympathetic (fight & flight response) and the parasympathetic (rest & digest response) the body can release the tension patterns without a large catharsis  

Ortho-Bionomy can assist you with:

• Shoulder Pain and Tension
• Hard Court Sports Injuries
• Ankle Pain and Injury
• Iliotibial Band Syndrome Pain

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Solve Shoulder Pain and Tension

 

Many shoulder issues such as rotator cuff issues and pain in the shoulder area often come from the same root cause. The shoulder girdle joins the ribcage at the sternoclavicular joint if this joint is unstable the body recruits the pects, this pulls the shoulder forward of the ribcage and causes the upper trap muscles to contract to stabilize the shoulder and creates tension running up the neck. This then changes the tension patterns in the rotator cuff muscles which are recruited to stabilize the glenohumoral joint. The tension in the rotator cuff muscles make a tear much more likely.

Stabilizing the acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joints can have a major impact on how the shoulder functions, reduces pain and muscle tension.

If you are looking for a solution to shoulder issues contact Rob Rich at Ortho-Bionomy on the Sunshine Coast today to organise an appointment.

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Reduce Hard Court Sports Injuries

One of the common things that happens with hard court sports such as squash, basketball and especially netball is what we call a femoral override. The femur (thigh bone) moves forward in relation to the tibia(shin bone) this puts pressure on the Patella (kneecap) and create tension through the ligaments in the knee. This tension is the precursor to sports injuries where the knee is knocked from the side or twisted resulting in torn ligaments.

How does this happen? Next time you watch a netball game watch how the players plant their feet while the momentum of their body weigh continues to carry forward, that's the movement.

How do you know if this is happening? If you lie on your back with your legs straight and notice does the back of your knee touch the surface your lying on or is there a gap? If there is a gap then there is a good chance that you have a femoral override.

The good news is that an Ortho-Bionomy session will reverse this. What's really good is that an Ortho-Bionomy session is far cheaper and more pleasant than knee surgery! Feel free to pass this information on to any netballers you know, it may save a knee operation! 

If you are looking for a solution to knee issues contact Rob Rich at Ortho-Bionomy on the Sunshine Coast today to organise an appointment.

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Reduce Ankle pain and injury with Ortho-Bionomy

Do you repeatedly roll your ankles? Do you have loose/unstable ankles?

When you roll your ankle the force of going over on it can stretch the ligaments holding the bones together.

The subtalar joint in the ankle is the joint most often affected by rolling  also contain nerves that give you feedback about the angle of the surface you are stepping onto. If you stretch the ligaments this feedback may be distorted making it far more likely that you will roll your ankle again.

The other option is a high ankle sprain, where the pain is where the lower leg meets the foot.

In an Ortho-Bionomy session we can work with the ligaments and increase the feedback from your ankles, making the joints more stable and cohesive.

If you are looking for a solution to ankle issues contact Rob Rich at Ortho-Bionomy on the Sunshine Coast today to organise an appointment.

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Iliotibial band syndrome (ITB) Pain

If you have had a tight ITB you will really notice how it effects the stability of the knee, creates a burning pain down the outside of your thigh and is incredibly painful when you use a roller or a massage therapist runs their elbow down it.

The question that interested me is why does the body need hold through the ITB? The answer comes back to how the body stabilizes itself when there is a lack of proprioceptive feedback (how your body tracks where it is).

The key is the joint capsule of the femur (thigh bone). The joint capsule stabilises the hip joint and contains receptors that should be giving you feedback about the alignment of the femur. The ligaments in your hip can become distorted (stretched) through standing with your weight thrust laterally (weight on one leg with hip thrust out sidewards) this makes the joint unstable and the body solves this by recruiting muscles to stabilise the system.

In the case of a tight ITB, the external rotators pull your femur externally and the Glutes & Tenser fascia latte (TFL) conntract pulling on the ITB to help bear your weight. A tight ITB can also lead to knee issues as the lateral tension changes how the knee moves. The body also compensates in the ankles & the feet which can lead to sprains & strains. If you have an ongoing ITB issue get an Ortho-Bionomy session, it will amaze you at how fast you body can change.

If you are looking for a solution to Iliotibial Band Syndrome issues contact Rob Rich at Ortho-Bionomy on the Sunshine Coast today to organise an appointment.

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