Enter the Matrix

In a recent post by Craig Alligham titled, “Posture vs. Strength”, he reported on a study that demonstrated that proficiency in two seemingly different forms of strengthening can yield identical outcomes for the patients undergoing the treatment. This “equality” phenomenon, which exists within as well as outside of our profession, I believe, holds the key to simplifying the complexity of the human body as well as what needs to be involved in successfully treating illness or injury.
Although I have an affinity for a treatment model that emphasizes soft tissue mobilization over joint mobilization for the purposes of restoring an individual’s movement and thus function, I acknowledge that great success can be found in either approach. I also have great respect for the wide array of alternative treatment approaches, such as acupuncture and craniosacral therapy among countless others, that when properly administered, yield comparable success rates for their respective patient populations.
When you look beyond the ego-driven efforts among health care professionals to point out the inherent flaws of the “other approaches”, you begin to see the bigger picture. This being that there must be a system at work within the body that stands above all else. I propose that this SINGLE system, the one that we are all likely working within, is the extracellular matrix (ECM).
The ECM, a liquid chrystalline matrix, is comprised of water molecules aligned in order along the surrounding macromolecules (Ho). The ECM and its liquid chrystalline properties not only allow for instantaneous adaptation to a given stimulus, but also possesses the ability to allow for cellular communication at speeds beyond that of the nervous system. One must ask if the ECM could be behind what is referred to as “being in the zone”? This state, commonly referenced in sports, is a state of which the body seems to work in perfect synchronicity; usually seeming to occur outside of conscious participation from the individual.

The ECM can transform and utilize any form of external energy (mechanical, light, heat etc.) into restorative, or in some cases destructive cellular processes. It is interconnected to the outside and inside of each individual cell and therefore every inch of the human body. No other system in the body has this ability. It come as no surprise that it is also now being looked upon as the only “anatomical structure” that matches the elusive acupuncture meridians; the channels through which energy moves and has been utilized to treat disease for thousands of years in the east.

To discuss how communication occurs within the ECM involves dropping down to the quantum physics world; a subject that I would like to discuss in the next post. For now however, when you or your patient, via active exercise, push, pull, or oscillation of the ECM, ponder the fact that it is actively listening and if given the right input will understand your intent.