The science of it




The human body is an amazing place. The study of it's anatomy and physiology is exhaustive and ongoing and we only need to cover a morsel of it here.

Typically the study of the human body has it's difficulties. Scientists like to classify things, it allows complex systems to be understood in terms of their components, a system inherited from the Greeks and one that has it's advantages but can compromise how we study people. Since DeCartes medicine has become a science and taken on the Greek legacies. It has yet to catch up with Einstein but that's another story.

The basic problem is that they are not separate components, they neither function separately or make any sense separately. The reason that we understand as little as we do about the human condition is that we are still to come to terms with exactly how everything is connected but there are a few things staring us in the face.

  • There are only four type of tissue in the entire body and by far the most common is the stuff that connects everything together. Connective tissue is everywhere, in bones, muscles, tendons, lining organs and connecting them together. Substances as diverse as bone and blood are all different types of connective tissue.
  • A specific type of connective tissue called fascia connects muscles to bones and is the medium through which muscular forces are transfered.
  • Connective tissue responds to overuse by becoming thicker and to underuse by losing it's tensile strength.
  • These variations in the superficial fascia can be seen on the surface of the skin and correspond directly to postural presentations.

Our posture is the most obvious example of the totality of the human body. We finally become a three dimensional shape rather than a series of components. By extension this three dimensional shape changes in response to not only physical tension but any of the many types of stress that we are subject too. This is why the relaxation program is so important and equally why we are all aware of the importance of being physically relaxed as we play.

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