A lower limb injury including knee or shoulder is often associated with a chronic core dysfunction unless it’s an impact injury. In the Paul Chek system the core is everything minus the arm and legs, including the organs, respiration brain, eyes and head. My experience is that a dysfunction is a result of poor core control reflecting to an unstable spine. So when the body does not stabilise you from a core level, the extremities will compensate and take over. This is why and how core dysfunction creates pain and weakness in the lower and upper limbs. Clients come to Pilates thinking it will solve everything, but unless we address the body as a whole, treating the symptoms will rarely work.
All chronic pain clients should always stay one to one and do the CHEK method with me. When they have pushed to get into semi-privates, this has rarely worked, because the underlying root cause has not been addressed. This is not to say Pilates is not good, its an amazing method when taught well and taught as a system and cross trained with other movement modalities.
Does the core exist?
Yes and no!
So the fascial experts would say ‘No’ and they are right to a point meaning that nothing works in isolation. Remember the word anatomy originates from the Ancient Greek anatomē, meaning “dissection,” derived from ana- (“up”) and temnein (“to cut”). It refers to the branch of biology and morphology concerned with the identification, description, and organization of body structures in living organisms. A muscle only exists in isolation because someone has cut it to that shape, but we are whole (holons). My understanding is that the fascial perspective thinks that CHEK practitioners are referencing muscles only, including inner and outer units, but in fact they operate form a top down approach using: ‘The Chek totem pole’.
Yes from a real life situation. My experience after 30 years of coaching and teaching is that Paul Chek’s philosophy of the core is true. The core is everything minus the arms and legs , so this would include organs, respiration, the eyes, brain and head. Dysfunction in the core will always result in a lower limb or upper limb injurie. We miss the plot yet again, by treating symptoms and not root cause. So let’s look at something different, like hayfever. I always know how good my gut, digestive and most importantly my ‘IMMUNE’ system is, by my hay fever symptoms. Assessments of the core and physiological stress loads will always reveal why the problem is re-occurring in the appendages. Again treating the site of symptom suggests a quick fix, but looking at the root cause address’s the body as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual human being
What is it’s purpose?
‘The core is your body’s foundation for movement.
If the core does not function properly, you’ll most
likely experience extremity and spinal pain, as well
as increased chances of injury.’1 – Paul Chek
The core should undulate, move with the breath as it expands and contracts and change under speed and load. If it is constantly held in tight and becomes restricted, dysfunction occurs, usually with a reverse breath pattern, facilitation of jaw, neck and shoulder muscles and over use of the appendages (arms and legs). Our body adapts to it’s surrounding, and the the crowd it mixes with. As the saying goes: ‘You are the average of the five people you spend time with’.
We have been educated through conformity, policy and authority. This is known as the parent/child relationship (Transactional analysis), where someone else teaches you what to think, instead of how to think. Remember the spine has been sold as a roman architectural column, but infact the spine is part of the architectural fabric that works in conjunction with the breath and the rest of the body. In the book: ‘Eat, move and be healthy’, Paul Chek states:
‘Current research indicates that if your body
functions correctly, the inner unit muscles “turn on”
about 30 milliseconds before arm movement and
about 110 milliseconds before leg movement. This
happens regardless of the direction or speed of limb
motion’. 2
Our nervous system should go from calm to alert and assist our movement patterns in order to survive. Anxiety and fight or flight of course affects our breathing by changing the pressures in the body. Living in a state of sympathetic breakdown leaves the body open for injury, dis-ease, dysfunction and catabolic breakdown.
‘You can’t fire a canon from a canoe’ – Paul Chek
Bibliography
Paul Chek – Eat, move and be healthy’ – 1, 2
Paul Thornley