good structural integration. But the way we live does not respect the integrity of the body's structures. The working world has most of us sitting at desks, making small, repetitive motions. Add to this the problem that many of us use our musculo-skeletal architecture inefficiently. Inappropriate body use creates structural and functional imbalances. When the body gets out of alignment, gravity becomes a destructive force. Its constant downward pull causes the imbalances to set and worsen over time.
Whether brought on by habitually poor body use or some kind of accident, the consequences of imbalance are broad. Small injuries turn slowly into complex patterns of compensation. A fall from a bicycle that twists a knee causes a limp for a few weeks. While the shifting of weight to the strong leg protects the healing limb and allows us to continue to walk, it restructures the coordination of neuromuscular effort, not only in the leg, but through the pelvis, up the spine, and eventually throughout the whole body. Some muscles get forced into chronic tension while others stop participating. Although the limp seems to disappear as the knee heals, the chain of compensations leaves an imprint in the form of shortened, distorted tissue patterns. To the extent that we have lost the length and...