A GAME CHANGING PHILOSPHY OF HUMAN MOVEMENT

ELIMINATING PAIN AND MAXIMISING HUMAN POTENTIAL

BY GARY WARD
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CHAPTER 1: THE JOURNEY BEGINS

CHAPTER 1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one At that time it wasn’t unusual for me to eliminate
step." Lao Tzu somebody’s pain in a matter of minutes using the
methodology I have developed. That was in March
“You’re doing what?” I asked. 2009. Since then I have pushed both professional
therapists and personal trainers through my training
“Running seven ultra-marathons in seven days on programmes and worked incredibly hard to bring
seven different continents.” alive the concept that comes so naturally to me:
reading and working with the human body… isn’t it
I think my next question was “Why?” ironic that my mission is to bring the human body
alive? There is, however, a certain truth in that. Never
When I asked Oliver Dudley how I could help, he told has the human body been so alive, and yet the
me he had to do it in five weeks’ time and he had worlds of fitness and therapy still thrive on evidence
currently injured his hip to the point of not being able based on dead people in an attempt to try and
to bear weight on his left leg. understand how the human body operates.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that this had happened as My mission is simple: to create an awareness of new
a result of him going from zero training to running a ways of working with the human body in therapy,
straight unprepared 10 miles. performance and coaching circles and bring that
alive for fitness and therapy professionals alike –
“You’re a novice runner as well?” I probed. and even the layman, for even he can take control
of his own wellbeing, should he choose to.
“Yes, that’s my thing,” he suggested nonchalantly.
“I was part of the World record-breaking team to row
across the Atlantic having never set foot on a boat in GROWING PAINS
my life before!”… and he can’t even swim! With a population of nearly eight billion and growing,
the world is full of people in pain. Postural distortions,
My own limiting belief kicked in, though I didn’t share injuries and physical complaints are rife. We have a
it with Oliver, but how the **** was he going to do this range of people competing at the top of their game
event in five weeks’ time with little or no preparation. whose daily toil is to stay injury free, and when that
Anyone with two brain cells would most likely prepare policy fails, the question is how quickly can they get
a year for something like this. The guy would need back on the field of play?
a miracle.
Thankfully we have a whole industry set up to
So I said “Yes.” deal with that; it comprises of therapists such as

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physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and My method incorporates full human movement. It’s My honest

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massage and bodyworkers who work day and night a study of the anatomy in motion and how we (my
belief is
to help you with your pain and problems. trained practitioners and I) encourage the body to
heal itself through movement. Anatomy in Motion that what
There are also hundreds and thousands of personal is the name of my business and can be found online movement
trainers, yoga teachers, Pilates instructors, functional at www.anatomyinmotion.co.uk. offers you is
trainers, corrective exercise specialists, strength and
an extension
conditioning coaches and goodness knows what
else out there to work on strength, core stability I AM HERE TO CHALLENGE YOU! to everything
and performance to give the masses access to Some of what I am going to say may challenge your that is already
optimal fitness and wellbeing. If you fit into any of current beliefs and thought processes. Some of prevalent in
these categories, this book could be for you. I’m what I am going to say may challenge your education
today’s therapy
going to refer to you all throughout this book as and may ultimately have you wanting to throw this
‘fitness and therapy professionals’. book against the wall. Hang in there! My honest belief world. This
is that what movement offers you is an extension means when
My real question has always been: “With so many to everything that is already prevalent in today’s you add the tool
fitness and therapy professionals around, all fully therapy world. This means when you add the tool
of movement
trained up, educated to degree standard and seeking of movement to your existing toolbox the potential
continual education, why are so many people still for results can only get greater and faster. Unsure? to your existing
suffering from pain and is there anything else that Seek out my own AiM practitioners who are qualified toolbox the
can be done about it?” The difference, I think, lies chiropractors and osteopaths who share with me potential for
in the scientific research and the determination of outstanding results having incorporated movement
results can only
that research that has, over time, influenced these into their own traditional clinic environment.
two industries, establishing the learnings of all get greater
fitness and therapy professionals and the methods Also seek out the personal trainers, yoga teachers and faster
employed by them to help the masses out of and Pilates instructors that use this movement-
physical strife on a daily basis. based philosophy in their corrective, rehab and
performance programmes. The things these guys
Am I suggesting that current methods don’t are getting their clients to do is unbelievable! What’s
work? No. Let me be clear, here and now, that more, all they are doing is using the medium of
that is absolutely not my intention; I will, however, movement to create an environment for healing in
be discussing, based on my experience, some the bodies of their clients and it’s happening in very
of the potential shortfalls in current methods, as short time frames for very effective results. What’s
well as bringing to life some of my own theories. also incredible is that these practitioners, who
Theories, which, in my opinion, act purely as an themselves are often well qualified, experience huge
extension to everything that you, as a fitness and shifts in their own physical prowess once they add
therapy professional, use in your clinical and/or the medium of movement into their own exercise,
training environment. training and wellbeing programmes.

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I teach them all to look at the body in a new, A Differentiate yourself

CHAPTER 1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

exciting and different way. I teach them to read B Be in a position to work with people you can’t
the body, to let the human body give them all ordinarily work with and have success
the information they need and to give the client’s C Grow your business through a unique approach
body no option but to heal itself through a that gets standout, exceptional results
deep and profound understanding of the
human body. STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD
Training providers are literally pumping personal
This new dimension of understanding has been trainers into your local area on a monthly basis.
honed into five big rules about human movement Pilates and yoga schools are doing the same. Every
that flip conventional anatomy on its head, rip year, more physios, chiropractors and osteopaths
up the anatomy book as we know it and create qualify in your area. It gets harder and harder to
a whole new handbook and user guide for the find work – thankfully there are millions of people
human body. Like many new things, it appears looking to get out of pain and get fit, strong and
complex at first and simple at the end, the more healthy again!
you play and experience the work, the clearer the
process becomes. If you are to get noticed in your local area, you must
stand out from the crowd. You must differentiate
For now I ask you to park everything you think you yourself from all the rest. One way of doing that is
know about the human body to one side, out of to learn about human movement for correction
sight and mind. Keep it somewhere safe as you’ll and rehabilitation, and three-dimensional training
need it later, but for now, in this, the complexity and movement for development and performance.
stage, what you think you know now will only hinder
any acceptance of what I am going to tell you. It’s Right now you are not unique: you choose exercises
possible that you’ll fight it, deny it, rubbish it, critique based on what everybody else is doing. Your
it and question it… and yet when you get the chance packages are unlikely to be bespoke and relevant
to put some of it into practice, like many others it’s for each client. I know this because there are
highly likely that you, too, can begin to see the value apps out there on people’s phones offering the
in this work. Despite everything, it’s the practice same service as you – for free. This is a problem
and experience of it that will ultimately make the for hundreds of exercise coaches and personal
difference for you. trainers. Apps have become your competitor,
too. You have to differentiate yourself from them
WHAT STUDYING MOVEMENT CAN DO FOR YOU if you are going to get paid doing what you love.
I believe that advancing your skills in any way If you only offer standardised training, as most
creates new and exciting opportunities for yourself. apps do, why would someone pay your hourly
When that new skill is as unique and high impact rate when Nike offers something amazing for
as understanding movement is, there are three free? Even if you don’t think it’s amazing, to the
natural responses: consumer it is.

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Seek to be different and break the mould of what’s more enquiries as to what they do, many of them Recognition

CHAPTER 1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

expected in your industry. Do this by breaking the raise their prices by way of offering a unique product
brings word
mould of your anatomical thinking, understanding and they become more and more passionate about
and application. Reach beyond what you know and the work they do based on the clients they attract of mouth, and
see if there’s more to do… and the results they see. All this as a result of taking success brings
the quantum leap that moves you from being the people to your
WIDEN YOUR MARKET sheep that follows the herd to being the Pied Piper
door. I get calls
You are good at what you do, you are dedicated in your local area.
and proud to be a successful fitness and therapy on a daily basis
professional – but can you work with anyone and AS IN THE BODY, AS IN LIFE asking if I can
can you be successful with everyone who comes One more thing before we venture into the help people
your way? If you want to help people resolve book… You might notice the analogies I make
with their pain.
unsolvable pain, you had better get both the skill and comparisons I present in relation to anatomy
set and experience to do so. Following the five big and life. It’s a fascinating wonder for me that when The answer is
rules gives you direct access to working with some I look at and study the human body as a whole always “Yes!”
complex and difficult issues whilst seeing incredible inseparable entity, I notice similarities in the life
results really quickly. I’m not just saying that – there and function of everything from the smallest cell to
are a whole host of testimonials from clients and the big wide universe – recognising that movement
happy students that can validate this. When you itself experiences that natural ebb and flow of
ask the body to heal itself, anything is possible. The polar fluctuations that has huge and significant
question should simply be: “How can I get your body connotations to the ways of the world and the
to help me better understand what is going on?” habits of the human being that are witnessed
As you start to get outstanding results, a wide all around you on a daily basis: in your work, your
diversity of both goals and problems will begin to relationships, your mood, your behaviours and
seek you out. wellbeing, too.

FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE Keep your eyes open for the little hidden messages
Both your unique approach in your local area and and see if you, too, can relate the human body to
your unfathomable success with the wide variety what goes on in your life. I see it everywhere. By
of clients that come your way means only one thing: understanding the wholeness of the human body
recognition. Recognition brings word of mouth, and I am able to use the principles and the five big
success brings people to your door. I get calls on a rules to help coach somebody through a difficult
daily basis asking if I can help people with their pain. situation or manage my own family life better.
The answer is always “Yes!” The way of the universe, the way of the world and
the way of the human body seem intrinsically
When people incorporate human movement in the connected and inseparable, adding to the richness
right way into their business, I have noticed a couple and fascination that we as beings represent on
of things: they become a source of intrigue and get this planet.

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If you spot this hidden theme, written between the understanding we can naturally start to open new
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lines, you’ll find it easy to get people out of pain and doors for the future. There has always been a ceiling
into peak performance on all levels. You’ll find it easy of knowledge we have been approaching and as we
to stand out from the crowd. You’ll find yourself approach that ceiling we realise we still don’t have
attracting clients and patients that you previously all the answers: so there must be something more,
could not have been successful with, and you’ll mustn’t there? New doors like this will always change
notice a long line of people queueing at your door the way we work and do things.
to experience first-hand the magical work you are
doing with their friends and colleagues. We got to where we are today with a very simple
question: “How does this thing we call the human
That is what this book is really about for you: body work?”
new tools, a greater understanding of the human
body, getting superior results with previously The answer to this question set a framework for
unattainable clients and growing a training and the exercises we do today relative to each individual
therapy business that helps you lead the life you body part and the therapeutic techniques you apply
want to lead. Oh, and all of that whilst being true as well.
to your passion – discovering the true inner workings
of the human body… The problem is that all exercise and therapy theories
were created through the study of anatomy,
Well, it’s here, in this book, sewn into the five big rules discovering what joints do and recreating that pattern
of motion. I can’t wait to share it with you. of movement or muscle action into an exercise to
stimulate the muscle function, joint range or both.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Let’s assume that we have come to the end of our Firstly, the research into how this body works took
understanding of traditional anatomy as we know place on dead bodies and in an isolated environment
it and through the evolution of practice of that and manner – presumably no live volunteers wanted

CASE STUDY
AiM has changed my life, personally and professionally. Personally, AiM has taken my yoga practice and overall mobility to
a different level as I now understand why I had any restrictions I did and how to correct this. Even through the late stages of
pregnancy I have maintained full mobility and remained pain free. Professionally speaking, I am a completely different yoga
teacher. Anatomy training for yoga teachers is often basic or not necessarily up to date. I now teach with confidence, knowing
that what I can offer my students will make a difference from the moment they leave the class. As a result, my classes have never
been so busy and private work has trebled. I now have this amazing tool to use to help people help themselves, and watching
someone go through such a positive, dramatic change after just one simple move is mind-blowing every time. Gary Ward is my
biggest inspiration. Tish Dodson www.jivahealth.co.uk

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the electrical stimulation caused by the original shorten, and when that contraction or shortening Without an

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electromyography (EMG) testing! takes place, the muscle moves a bone in a specific
understanding
direction, causing a change in the relevant joint: and
This created today’s awareness of how muscles the anatomy book was born. of the
work and the impact that muscular contraction has integrative side
on the joint system. It says that the bicep flexes the elbow and the of anatomy and
abdominals flex the spine, which naturally led to the
movement (the
Secondly, this testing took place in an isolated magazines’ favourite: bicep curls and sit-ups.
environment, again, primarily because it’s difficult study of live
to integrate the body parts of a dead person! Both of these exercises are prescribed by trainers, people!) these
The result is that for many years we, too, have adored by the masses and yet can cause negative processes
been forced to work in an isolated environment: postural change, which influences pain elsewhere in
alone will
separating body parts to exercise them, and the body.
isolating treatments, in particular the areas where either take too
people have pain. The study of anatomy led to a static, isolated and long or lead
one-dimensional approach to training and therapy to problems
There are naturally both major limitations and generated the many exercises we are taught
further down
and benefits to this process. It seems to to use on our clients and athletes every day. Yet
me that whenever we interfere like this, with without an understanding of the integrative side of the line – a kind
experimentation, that scientific outcome is split anatomy and movement (the study of live people!) of sweeping
keenly down the middle, separating two truths, like these processes alone will either take too long or it under
removing the egg from the yolk, calling one good lead to problems further down the line – a kind of
the carpet
and the other bad, or, in this case, simply omitting sweeping it under the carpet approach.
a whole other process that is natural, integrated approach
and leads to a huge gap in understanding, on the Study of movement = the study
part of today’s benefactor – the trainee or student of live people!
anatomist and ultimately the client who relies on
their knowledge to help them. Should the whole industry be abandoned if every
exercise can negatively affect people in that way? No!
The problem is not that the top practitioners aren’t
aware of this: it’s the fact that millions of therapists We just need to look at the bigger picture, to
and trainers are sent out into their industries with understand it better and recognise that there are,
little appreciation of that, qualified and let loose on thankfully, major extensions to the way we work
the most phenomenal machine in the world – the that quickly reinforce conventional treatments and
human body! training strategies.

So it was discovered that when a muscle is Alone, conventional methods have a place, but
electrocuted, it is also stimulated to contract or combined with movement, to influence the brain,

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nervous system and physical structures, the the cause, not the pain’ approach. Yet movement
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conventional methods will finally begin to add up and integration still fail to be completely present in
and make sense. the world of anatomy.

This is why I created my five big rules of motion. Frustratingly for me, even current concepts of
movement that are rapidly infiltrating the fitness
INTRODUCING CHAOS (COINS HAVE ANOTHER SIDE) and therapy industry are still heavily focused on
I first had a sense, but now I know, that there is the conventional side of the coin, which means, for
a large part of human anatomical understanding me, that there remain limitations to understanding
that is missing and, more importantly, that when human movement and the actual practice of it.
I, or my students, tap into the part that is missing,
there is an undeniable truth that lies beneath it. I have a vision where the next step is to see
traditional therapies, as well as training and exercise
I call it the ‘other side of the coin’ – where most companies, incorporating the full understanding
of my opinions appear to oppose and conflict the of human movement into their way of working,
methods currently being taught. Not a great way adapting techniques, getting off the couch – when
of winning friends, I must admit. possible – embracing the true workings of the
human body and truly integrating the system as
However, I should make clear, at this point, that a whole. Bringing both sides of the coin to life,
what I am saying and what I am going to pour forth exposing the truth.
in this book is not in opposition to current methods,
but is more of an extension of what already exists. The future is confusingly impossible to see. Even
It’s simply building onto what we already know to on the newer side of the coin, there would appear
make it more powerful. to be a limit to how we work with the human body,
but my feeling is we are a long way off from that,
You cannot have one side of a coin without the and yet seem so close as well. There are only so
other. Both will always be present, yet one seems many bones, joints, arms and legs to worry about,
to grab the limelight and the other shall be and understanding the complexity of it all has to
overlooked. Wonderfully, when you put both sides be getting simpler – it is getting simpler – but we
of a coin together, you start to see the bigger are not there yet. I do wonder though what would
picture and greater outcomes become possible. happen to our knowledge and awareness if we
There even arises a third side, upon which both brought together all the theories of anatomy, from
sides of the coin can stand together, solid in the chiropractic and osteopathic to Pilates and yoga,
awareness that all outcomes are covered. and wonder often if there lies one simple solution
to all of it. Somewhere in the centre…
Now, I’m not the first person to come onto the
scene ranting on about human movement,
integration of a wholesome system and the ‘treat

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POLITICS? Interestingly,

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The political spectrum of anatomy often sees the THIS BOOK HAS FOUR INTENTIONS: on many
chiropractors, physios and osteopaths disagreeing  To raise awareness of what I call the five
on the treatment style of a patient and in many big rules of human movement – bringing occasions in
cases openly in front of the patient as well. This the other side of the coin alive discussion with
leaves the patient confused and with no idea where  To give you an insight into what happens a chiropractor
to turn next. when we pay attention to those big rules
about my work,
 For you to recognise the insane importance
Imagine the client being told that money they spent of understanding foot mechanics and the I hear them
on another therapist was wasted and better spent difference it can make to your work as say how very
with you. The poor client does not know whether he a practitioner chiropractic
is coming or going!  Answering the question:
my approach
* How do I interpret the body better to get
Interestingly, on many occasions in discussion stronger results? is… and in
with a chiropractor about my work, I hear them conversation
say how very chiropractic my approach is… and with an
in conversation with an osteopath how very Underlying all of that, I ask you to start to believe
osteopath
osteopathic my method is… So underlying it all is that change is truly possible and perhaps even step
clearly a common theme, yet our perceptions of into my world for the period of time that you read how very
that theme differ wildly depending on our training, this book and consider that change really does take osteopathic my
education and experience. Much like religion! only an instant to occur. method is…
It’s generally accepted that most pain can be
resolved in about six weeks (I’m sure there are
variations on that) and we are anchored to that
thought. A broken bone takes six weeks – why do
we imagine a muscle tear or back pain should take
the same?

A six-week process to change isn’t really a single

change, it’s millions of changes taking place on a
small scale until you finally perceive that a change
has been made in you. Except the type of change
I am talking about is the quantum leap from the
old to a new physical you…

…from nought to six weeks in just

30 minutes!

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It is my experience, on many occasions, that using For me, it highlighted significantly different ideas
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movement as a tool for rehab has given so many and key concepts that challenge the status quo
things back to so many people; some claim to have and impact upon everything from:
their life back – many of them who had given up  the way we stand to the way we move
on ever being out of pain again. They literally came  the way we exercise and develop strength and
to me as a last resort and wished they’d found specific conditioning
me earlier.  the way we can treat clients, receive treatment or
even treat ourselves
What’s the difference between what I do and what  whether we choose to be stable or more mobile
they had experienced elsewhere? The difference  whether you can get out of pain or not
lies in what I pay attention to and the lack of
influence that the conventional model of anatomy These new ideas and concepts began to come
has had on me. I’m not blinkered in my approach together to form my five big rules of motion, which
and never have been. I’ll discuss in detail later.

If it didn’t make sense to me, I didn’t use it. After the trip, Oliver christened me the ‘human horse
I did countless courses that were simply a waste whisperer’ – a horse whisperer being a talented
of money, that gave me things to look at, but no horseman with a remarkable gift for understanding
solution to offer my client or patient. Movement horses, who is hired to nurse horses back to health.
is still the only thing that makes sense to me. Except I do that with humans… and have been referred
Even the anatomy book we all learn from doesn’t to as the ‘human body whisperer’ before now.
make sense to me. If it is accurate, then it’s
limited in its accuracy and can be expanded UNLOCKING POTENTIAL
on greatly, and yet it remains what we all learn Here follows some headings that summarise the
from and use as our ‘go to’ tool for muscle and approach I both use and teach AiM students to follow
joint reference. to get a result with the human body. Scan it, identify
it, solve it… it’s how we begin to unlock the hidden
It’s truly amazing what can happen when you take potential in every client we see and work with.
the raw state of the human body, uninfluenced by
text books and old science, and just play with it to  Scan it
see what it can do. I watch the body in motion and gait, scanning the
body, observing the movement of joints and body,
reading for anomalies in muscle balance, stance
and posture. I look for what is not happening and
compare it to what should be happening.

 Identify it
I study the movement to recognise poor or failing

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SCAN IDENTIFY SOLVE

movement patterns so as to seek out and identify patterns, which enable the body to function optimally It’s like hitting
the cause of the patient’s problem. Poor movement once again. The movement pattern that is faulty (or
in one part of the skeleton impacts on the missing) needs rewiring to the brain so the person
the reset button
movement of the whole skeleton and can be visible can begin to use it again in a pain-free environment. on an electronic
from head to toe. I ask myself what movement or device so the
imbalance occurring somewhere else in the body  Reset body refreshes
could be causing that inhibition. It’s like hitting the reset button on an electronic
device so the body refreshes itself, starting again,
itself, starting
 Solve it pain free, mobile and raring to go. In fact, this is again, pain free,
I use movement patterns, and/or exercises to beyond giving new movement back to the human mobile and
replace the movement or movements that are not body. It’s about allowing the body to access old raring to go
happening in the client’s body. These have been movement patterns, the factory setting’s default
mapped to the body over years of watching the mode. Clearing the decks to start again.
body move, and using force and pressure plates
to determine how movement occurs from the In fact, it is my firm belief that every human body
foot up the kinetic chain. I have developed a way to has unlimited potential locked away inside; inhibited
re-educate the body, to restore lost movement possibly by three things:

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I. Poor skeletal alignment and posture problem, which is, quite simply, that pain, under
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II. The internal workings of the body (organ function, the current way of addressing it, is little more than
hormonal imbalance) manageable. We have the skill set to help people
III. Belief or mindset relieve pain, but do we have the skill set to eradicate
All of which could have arisen over the years as that pain for ever? It’s an interesting thought. I’d like
compensation for previous pain, from postural habit, to create that as a possibility for mankind.
emotional state, poor attitude to one’s health and, of
course, present pain or circumstance. What I am used to witnessing is that people who
suffer from back pain can come right out of their
Do we understand pain? Do we respect it? Do we pain immediately once the overall inhibition has
even respect the magical capabilities of the human been resolved.
body itself? I’m not sure en masse that we do.
Immediately? How can back pain be the number one
Let’s look at it like this: search term on Google and therefore the biggest
If your body is not as good as it can be then it’s physical problem on the planet if an immediate
likely you will have problems at some time in turnaround is possible?
your life.
That much, I think, we all do understand. So if we flip Quite simply, because it is. On the other side of the
that in reverse (I’ll do a lot of that through the book coin there is a solution to every problem, and I would
you’ll notice) then it becomes: like to reveal some of the methods I use throughout
this book to give you a basic understanding of how
As soon as your body is as good as it can be, you that is possible. So that next time you have back pain
overcome these problems and create awesome and seek treatment, you might think twice about just
opportunity for yourself. getting a ‘back rub’ or a ‘back crack’ when in reality
What I am suggesting is that as overall inhibitions that could simply be a way of masking the situation
are removed from your body, the overall potential in the short term. Next time you consider referring a
of your body increases, too. client for treatment, consider that using movement
correctly, as introduced in this book, you could offer
Let’s use back pain as our analogy here, since it a solution where others offer a mask. People need
is the number one search term on Google for the real answers to their pain and real solutions to
health and fitness industry – notice that people do overcoming performance inhibitions.
also seek fitness trainers to help with back pain.
Have you ever noticed how every six weeks to three
Is this because back care is inadequate? No, it just months patients are back at the local therapist with
means that people are always looking for more yet another bout of back pain? This is because the
answers and consistently seeking alternative environment in which the pain arose has not been
opinions about their predicament. Human beings challenged or changed. By this I mean the skeletal
thrive on choice. The predicament arises out of the alignment, the gait patterns, the thought processes

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around the pain and the system as a whole remains challenge yourself? When you go beyond your own What if it really

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as it was the last time the pain was present. perceived boundaries and self-imposed limitations
is as simple
there is an awareness of change, instant change and
It is because change hasn’t really happened or even a knowing that there is no going back. as finding the
been addressed. cause, locating
Imagine you have pain somewhere in the body. the ‘thing’
What if it really is as simple as finding the cause, Now imagine that a separate body part simply
that triggers
locating the ‘thing’ that triggers it every day and doesn’t work as it should and imagine that
restoring effective movement patterns to reduce challenging and mobilising that part in a specific it every day
and eliminate the triggers in order to unlock some way means that change at the point of pain and restoring
of that hidden potential I am talking about? becomes a real possibility, with relief instantly effective
brought to your discomfort.
movement
In your body lies an unexplored point of maximum
efficiency and optimality beyond which fantastic Once you experience that, and feel it in your body, patterns to
opportunity lies. you have a knowing that there is a way out of your reduce and
current predicament. And there is… eliminate the
This opportunity can be described as:
triggers in order
 Physiological: a state of enhanced wellbeing, What would you do then? What if all of a sudden
whether it’s being pain free and playing with your there was no pain? What dreams could you fulfil? to unlock some
children or experiencing life at a higher level than What goals could you achieve? How different and of that hidden
you ever thought possible. much more positive would your life be? If you are potential I am
 Physical: a perfectly vital body can achieve thinking that you don’t know or have run out of
talking about?
anything, sporting greatness or just greatness in dreams or can’t even imagine being out of pain, then
your own mind. What’s your wildest dream? you have to now seek movement as a tool because it
 Emotional: postural change has an instant carry is the one thing that nearly all practitioners and even
over to the way you feel and many people remark trainers fail to use in the treatment of your pain. If you
on the impact that being out of pain has on their have tried everything, but not tried movement, and
life, their family and relationships around them. movement is as effective as I say it is – then what
have you got to lose?
This point of maximum efficiency becomes
accessible when we challenge the boundaries of Now, as a therapist, consider that your clients feel
what the body can do. There’s a weird science, if you like that, too… and the best most can offer them
like, that makes it simple and easy to compare what is pain management when pain resolution is a
goes on in the body to the very nature of how we real possibility simply by adding new tools – the
manage ourselves in life as well. tool of movement – to your fantastic repertoire
of skills. Would you be proud of your work if you
CHALLENGE knew that resolution was actually possible and yet
Have you ever noticed how life gets better when you management is what you are selling?

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Your body is MOBILITY that this might be difficult for some of you, but bear
CHAPTER 1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

being truly One of my biggest fears has always been to lose with me for now, OK?
mobility and as I explore more and more the
functional in its simplicity of optimising human movement Your body has an innate awareness that intuitively
dysfunction! potential, I question how it can be that we are, knows what it means to work efficiently and
in the main, happy to have our bodies operate with effortlessly. It knows how to be pain free if only you
sub-standard performance. would stop using it in the same way day in day out
and with every step you take. Seriously, changing
Why do we accept our pain as the norm and forget your body to a more vital state could be the biggest
to question things until the only possible solution is habitual trait you will ever try to break. Harder than
to be cut open and have parts removed or added to smoking. Worse than picking your nails. More
our already perfect body? debilitating than your need for a biscuit... Unless you
get the right type of practitioner in place – one who
You have all the parts you need, ladies asks the question “what is happening in your body
and gentlemen! that is causing your pain?” and understands how to
Yes, your body is perfect, even if you think it isn’t. start the process of self-healing or auto-correction,
As I mentioned already, not many people truly unlock the secrets and crack the code of the human
respect the potential of the human body, including body. Did I mention using movement?
practitioners I speak to and teach. We are forever
using the word ‘dysfunctional’ to describe a failing That’s what Oliver did. He found me. He paid for
body. Yet your body is being truly functional in its me to experience this magical round the world
dysfunction! We’ll clear some definitions around trip because, in Oliver’s words, “he couldn’t do it
this later. without me”.

Consistently, when this situation of accepting our The truth, as he was finding out, is that, sadly, he
pain as normal arises, nobody ever asks: “Have could not have done it with conventional therapy
you tried using movement as a tool?” swiftly backing his corner.
followed by: “Give your body a chance to heal itself.
You didn’t know that your own body knows best, MY STORY
did you?” I’d like to wind back a bit further to my own story. A
trainee teacher with a degree in Modern European
People are generally left asking the question: Studies at Loughborough University, I spent my
“What’s happening to me?” and that is the question years at university gazing out of a window or with
that I consider on a daily basis: “What is happening my head stuck in my mate’s sports science manuals
in your body that is causing your pain?” trying to work out how to do better in the gym, build
great muscles and wow the ladies. I’d lost the desire
My body knows best? Yup. Despite what your to teach foreign languages to schoolchildren who
conscious mind is thinking right now, and I accept barely even left their home town and thought France

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was a fictional land somewhere in the region of banning any thought processes that could link the Knee pain?

CHAPTER 1 THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Timbuktu. I quit and headed to the Alps to pursue two! There was only one thing to do: start teaching
What if I adjust
my love of skiing. During the six winters I spent in foot and posture workshops. So I did… Today I am
the French Alps, I was lucky enough to be taught to lucky enough to teach all manner of fitness and the foot in
fit ski boots for a living and even more lucky to be therapy professionals and am constantly honoured this way? Pain
introduced to the foot, how it works, how to fit it in by their delight in my approach and humbled by the gone? Brilliant;
a boot, how to build an orthotic for it, how to make results they themselves obtain with their clients. I’m
go and enjoy
it comfortable and pain free so as to maximise the passionately driven by the daily feedback I get from
ski experience of the person at the other end of my practitioners of the awesome results they get yourself. This
the body. with their clients where other therapists have failed. happened
time and time
I was hooked, instantly. I fell in love with feet and was This book comes at you with no doctorate, no
again. WTF?
instantly fascinated with the bodies of the people I degree, no background that marries up other than
worked with. Knee pain, hip pain, back pain: everyone pure experience and practice of working with the
who came in the door had something wrong with human body using the foot as a pure access point
them! I remember thinking: “WHAT A BUSINESS!” to understanding it and determining its functionality.
It’s been an interesting journey, one that has
Knee pain? What if I adjust the foot in this way? been fraught with mistakes, errors, struggles and
Pain gone? Brilliant; go and enjoy yourself. This frustrations… but I got there in the end. Following
happened time and time again. WTF? I also noticed my passion – firstly for skiing, and secondly for
that I could shift pain around from one body part to the human body – opened doors I hadn’t even
another, leading me and the other ski boot fitters envisaged when I was sat there feet up staring
to question “what is and where is pain really?” We out the window of Rutherford Hall, Loughborough
simply deduced it must be in their heads and carried University, whiling away time in a degree I would
on with our off-snow labour of love: ski boot fitting barely ever use.
and ski sales.

Eventually it became too much, I had to learn more

and the easiest and simplest way was to become
a personal trainer and sports massage therapist.
Upon my return to England to work full time in this
business I was instantly disappointed with the
standard of anatomical understanding in the body
– in particular around feet and the phenomenal
connection they have with the rest of the body. In
fact, I figured people actually believe that the foot
and the body are disconnected, like some metal
bar sits between the two, separating them and

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 PART

1 WHAT THE FOOT?

CHAPTER 2: RANT, RANT, RANT!

CHAPTER 2 RANT, RANT, RANT!

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as specificity (two massive buzzwords) across to your
you please." Mark Twain (1835-1910) client. Wouldn’t that be frustrating?

Before moving onto the five big rules I first would I have 10 basic rants that seem to completely go
like to share some of my struggles and frustrations against the grain of all that we are taught about the
that may also ring a bell with you and your own human body… and yet when I go against the grain in
frustrations. These are things that are prevalent in practice I see amazing transformative results… and
the businesses and ideologies of fitness and therapy so do my students.
professionals. It’s a good time to remind yourself to
park what you know and entertain the idea that what
I am saying could have some validity and a significant RANT #1: STATIC STRETCHING
role to play in the way you work with the human body My core statement here is simple: “Static stretching
in the future. does NOT work!”

When I teach my courses, I get the students to It’s quite simple actually. I have not employed static
stumble upon these concepts by themselves: that stretching with a client for at least six years now.
way they can’t really disagree with them as they have This MUST mean two things: 1) stretching is not
simply discovered it for themselves. I don’t want you necessary to get results; and 2) there must be a
just to accept what I am saying – I want you to go better way than stretching to get the type of results
out and experience it, play with it yourself and see I am used to seeing. The problem, for me, lies in the
what happens. Most of all, challenge it and observe term ‘static’. I don’t have a problem with stretching
the outcomes. The reason I call them the five big as long as we stretch a muscle in accordance with
rules is because rules are made to be broken and all its true functionality.
progress relies on the breakdown and rebuilding of
things. I consistently challenge the rules and as yet Muscle function basics
they remain intact, so I urge you to do the same – In motion, all muscles work like so:
don’t accept them, run them into the ground and see OFF - ON - OFF - ON - OFF - ON – OFF -ON
if they work all the time to serve the people of this Never static – ever!
world better.
To hold a stretch deprives the muscle of the ON part
If you finally decide to accept the five big rules, you of that relationship. A muscle lengthens to its end
will most likely notice that in movement, many of range (stretches), stabilises and contracts back to
the strategies you employ readily in your day-to- where it started again.
day work actually don’t carry any functionality or

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CHAPTER 2 RANT, RANT, RANT!

system that senses that motion and initiates a If the horse was
contraction on the reins to control the movement of much stronger
the horse’s head. If the horse was much stronger
than you and placed its head on the floor to eat, and
than you and
you maintained the effort of trying to get the head placed its head
back up, you would tire yourself out. This is the case on the floor to
in a static stretch. eat, and you
When it came to riding the horse minutes later,
maintained
the horse would be ready to go and you would the effort of
be knackered! This is how muscles feel in poor trying to get
The sensation you feel at the end of a stretch and posture – knackered. the head back
the reason you can’t stretch any further is because
the muscle is actively contracting against you. It is In dynamic movement, muscles BOTH lengthen and
up, you would
defending itself from going too far by decelerating shorten, lengthen and shorten, off - on, off - on. By tire yourself
the journey towards end range. encouraging this pattern, the body naturally allows out. This is
the short muscles to lengthen and the overstretched the case in a
At end range, the muscle has a need to contract back muscles to shorten as the body finds a natural state
to its restful position, otherwise it will quickly become of balance.
static stretch
fatigued in its futile effort to do so.
Stretching simply addresses the inhibitions in muscle
In movement, muscles stretch to allow the skeleton tone without addressing the state and balance of the
to move. I call it the ‘horse’s head’ analogy. Imagine body as a whole. In my second big rule of human
you are on a horse, holding the reins, and the horse movement, you will see why expecting a stretch to
drops its head to the ground. You are the nervous influence posture is a hopeful long shot at best.

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 WHAT THE FOOT?

I hope you enjoyed the free chapter and the first of

TEN informative rants; please visit the WTF website at
www.whatthefoot.co.uk/buythisbook
to purchase your copy of the whole book

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