Let’s get on each other’s Nerves

What did you get taught on your Pilates teacher training course??

Nerves, I don’t know about you, but my Pilates training left out most of the juicy stuff about the nervous system. We covered the central nervous system which plugs into the muscles to tell them what to do, comprised of the brain, spinal cord and the bits that leave the spine at each vertebral junction to travel to all the parts of the body. We were not expected to learn the innervation of each muscle, keep it simple people seemed to be the theme. Now that I’ve started to understand the nervous system a bit more I’m wondering why it was all deemed too much for us simple Pilates teacher trainees?

Why understanding Nerves is essential to us.

Fast forward to now, and my perspective on what we should know about the Nerves and the nervous system is slightly different. The first course that revealed the magic of the nervous system was the one that taught me the neural screen called the Slump (we show this on our course, you’ll be pleased to know). Discovering how far into flexion you go before the slack is taken out of the nervous system was a little bit mind-blowing. It seems no matter how much range you think you have in your ‘hamstrings’ (the air quotes are because it may not be your hamstrings but anything from your hairline above your forehead to the undersurface of your big toe) by ‘flossing’ your nerves, you can fold further forward. When I’ve played with other Pilates teachers and we ‘free up’ the ability of their nerves to glide around through their tissues there have been many WTF moments. So mobilising nerves can increase the range of flexion in the back chain of your body.

Tension is not in the tissues.

What this means is that the brain (top dog of the nervous system) decides how much flexibility you have. Think about this people. THE BRAIN DECIDES HOW FLEXIBLE YOU ARE, NOT YOUR TISSUE. Sorry about the use of shouty caps but this is big news, a game changer. What is the point of all the stretching people if it may not be about the muscles or the joints??? Current research is suggesting stretching may be a waste of time. When you are gaining flexibility, it may be no more than your brain going ‘ok, if you insist you can go a bit further’.

But wait, there is more.

Guess what people, there are even more magical things the nervous system is capable of. The Motor Cortex (think of the old man behind the big wizard in the Wizard of Oz) like Vivian (Julie Roberts in Pretty Woman) decides who does what and when. When we are telling our clients what we would like them to do to improve the execution of their Pilates exercises this part of their brain is in control. The bad news is that this part of the brain makes decisions 3-10 seconds before we are consciously aware of the thought. So by the time they are moving their motor cortex has moved on to the next thing that catches its attention. What hope do we have by ‘telling them’ what they should do to improve how they are moving.

What use is all of this to my clients?

I’ll give you a quick example of how I use Neurodynamics with my clients. One of my lovely clients is an ex-rugby player who was diagnosed with a genetic neurological condition (Adrenomyeloneuropathy – I’ll never ask you to say it out loud). We have found that by mobilising his femoral nerve, the ability to dorsiflex and control his feet while he walks improves. Simples people and for him a handy way to manage a condition that isn’t going to change. These tools are useful for many of our clients as there are many exercises that take our bodies into full flexion (Roll up, Rollover)and if there are any tensions anywhere from our heads to our toes it can inhibit our abilities to perform these movements with ‘spontaneous zest and pleasure’ (as the big man Mr P said).

Don’t despair, there is hope.

There are tools we can use to influence and work with our intelligent nervous systems. The most important thing is that we understand a bit more about it so we can. On our Nerve and Neurodynamics course, we do our best to keep this big and complex system as simple as we can. We want to make sure you understand the role of the limbic system (Fight, Flight or Freeze) and why recognising when your clients ‘go limbic’ is important and how to look after them if it happens. We play with strings to help you visualise where the big players of the nervous system run through our bodies so we can play with Neurodynamic movements to improve movements in our joints that may not be stiff because the ‘tissues’ are tight. So, come and join us and let’s get on each other’s nerves in the best way possible.

“It’s the mind itself which builds the body” J. Pilates.