This one is for the nerds out there.

I highly recommend that you DON’T read if you don’t fall into the ‘nerd’ category! It looks at things at a level that’s likely to confuse rather than help unless you’re the type of person that likes to delve about under the bonnet and figure out how things work.

First of all then, what is Motor Control? From the article:

“Much of the brain and nervous system is devoted to the processing of sensory input, in order to construct detailed representations of the external environment.

Through vision, audition, somatosensation, and the other senses, we perceive the world and our relationship to it. This elaborate processing would be of limited value, however, unless we had a way to act upon the environment that we are sensing, whether that action consist of running away from a predator; seeking shelter against the rain; searching for food when one is hungry; moving one’s lips and vocal cords in order to communicate with others; or performing the countless other varieties of actions that make up our daily lives. In some cases the relationship between the sensory input and the motor output are simple and direct; for example, touching a hot stove elicits an immediate withdrawal of the hand (Figure 1.1). Usually, however, our conscious actions require not only sensory input but a host of other cognitive processes that allow us to choose the most appropriate motor output for the given circumstances. In each case, the final output is a set of commands to certain muscles in the body to exert force against some other object or forces (e.g., gravity). This entire process falls under the subject of motor control.”

Section 1.2 of the article talks about the necessary components of Motor Control. Namely:

1. Volition.
2. Coordination of signals to many muscle groups.
3. Proprioception.
4. Postural adjustments.
5. Sensory feedback.
6. Compensation for the physical characteristics of the body and muscles.
7. Unconscious processing.
8. Adaptability.

Frequently I stress that hip OA is a whole body problem. Whilst that is true, in many ways you could argue it’s more a problem with the brain than the physical body.

From the article:

“Adaptability: The motor system must adapt to changing circumstances. For example, as a child grows and its body changes, different constraints are placed on the motor system in terms of the size and mass of bones and muscles. The motor commands that work to raise the hand of an infant would fail completely to raise the hand of an adult. The system must adapt over time to change its output to accomplish the same goals. Furthermore, if the system were unable to adapt, we would never be able to acquire motor skills, such as playing a piano, hitting a baseball, or performing microsurgery.”

In simple terms, your brain has forgotten how to fire up your muscles in the correct sequence. The very mechanism that allows us to adapt to learn new skills and cope in ever changing environments has caused us to adapt in an unsustainable way. Our motor control system is trying to do things in a way which is self-destructive. Our own brain is putting stress on soft tissue, wearing joints, preventing normal movement and generating pain.

The reason it’s so hard to put right is because the whole thing is controlled by Unconscious Processing::

“Unconscious Processing: The motor system must perform many procedures in an automatic fashion, without the need for high-order control. Imagine if walking across the room required thinking about planting the foot at each step, paying attention to the movement of each muscle in the leg and making sure that the appropriate forces and contraction speeds are taking place. It would be hard to do anything else but that one task. Instead, many motor tasks are performed in an automatic fashion that does not require conscious processing. For example, many of the postural adjustments that the body makes during movement are performed without our awareness. These unconscious processes allow higher-order brain areas to concern themselves with broad desires and goals, rather than low-level implementations of movements.”

In order to undo years of harmful adaptation we somehow need to find a way to break into the unconscious processing and consciously teach our brain / motor control system to move in a more appropriate way. We need to manually debug and re-write the faulty programming. Yet that programming is hugely complex and most of us don’t even understand the basics of the programming language.

That is the goal of the treatment plan in the book. The important point for everyone to remember (even if you don’t read the article) is that standard corrective exercises are unlikely to work. Your Motor Control system is so screwed up that it’s incapable of doing them correctly. So for example, it’s not enough to just find an exercise that supposedly targets the internal oblique and do it twice a day for 6 months. You need to find an exercise that works for you. Often you need to work hard for a long time at an exercise until you can get it firing up the target muscle. This is why it is so important that you do your best to understand the theory; to really feel what’s happening in your body and to understand what needs to be done to put things right. No one can do it for you. It’s something you have to work at from inside.

I know a lot of people are reporting fast results with the treatment plan in the book; some say they’re completely cured in a week. However, they are not the norm. I also suspect that they haven’t completely corrected their muscle imbalance; they’ve simply done enough to eliminate symptoms. In some cases symptoms will return, or move to another part of the body. Some will get lucky and never have problems again. My point is that no one should give up because they haven’t had instant results. It’s a very difficult problem to solve. In order to succeed you have to accept that there is no silver bullet. No ‘expert’ can do it for you. Just get your head down and keep working at it. It took me many years. Hopefully I can help you achieve much faster results. But there is no escaping the fact that (unless you’re one of the lucky ones) you need to really apply yourself to the task – mentally and physically.

You’ll find the article here:

http://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/s3/chapter01.html