From the Ground Up Athletic Performance Podcast Holly Middleton Episode 71 "AiM, preferred center position & Posture, Reeducating the body to move optimally, lower body assessment & interventions"
On episode 71 I sat down with Holly Middleton of Flow Movement Therapy, to discuss a variety of topics from the movement philosophy presented by Gary Ward's system AiM. Holly starts by discussing the basic philosophy and rationale presented within Aim and our first talking point centers around the term movement spectrum. Movement like all things exist on a spectrum, Holly shares how we can utilize and analyze the spectrum that a client presents to see where deficiencies or issues may lie. By expanding access to both ends of the spectrum you increase an individuals movement vocabulary and profile. One of the other big tenets of Aim is the idea of finding the center of each joint (preferred center position). If an individual presents too far to one extreme, they limit different aspects of their locomotive capabilities.
The AiM system also examines all joint actions in the process of gait, on numerous podcast I've shared how important gait is in regards to survival. Holly discusses how gait analysis can give practitioners clear insight to the functional capability of the individual. Holly discusses the different mechanics of the foot and shares how a lack of supination, pronation, dorsiflexion, or plantar flexion can have cascading effects throughout the body and kinetic chain. The middle part of the conversation focuses heavily on concepts that would be associated with the term compensation. Holly discusses how we can intelligently reintroduce different actions and movement options intelligently to the human body.
Holly shares her assessment process and how she utilizes both static as well as dynamic assessment processes to get a clearer picture on a clients movement capabilities. We end the discussion by talking about simple daily activities that we can introduce to make ourselves more robust and complete movers. The introduction of novel stimuli is something that I can appreciate as repetitive movements and activities can lead to boredom and the biasing of certain positions. It's good to pursue different shapes, movement patterns, as well as experience to keep a balanced and healthy movement profile. Throughout the conversation I know the audience will enjoy the thoughtful approach that Holly presents on how to actively empower athletes or clients.
Head over to From the Ground Up Athletic Performance.com to check out the detailed write up featuring key points from this weeks episode.
Flow Movement Therapy Youtube Channel