an "Aha!" moment, brought to you by Rae's brain on Feldenkrais

[jazzlvr16]

 My teacher told me recently that if you have skeletal or structural strength, muscle strength doesn't matter. I spent days rolling that over and over in my head until I realized something...

A baby learns to stand before it has the muscle strength to hold itself there. The strength follows the structure.

Comments

[hydingjekyll]

Can you tell me about the principle of skeletal or structural strength? Is it another term for strong bones and joints, or something more? This idea of structural/skeletal strength mattering more than muscular strength is very interesting to me.

And it sounds like you're learning all kinds of awesomeness from Feldenkrais. I'm happy for you!

[jazzlvr16]

Skeletal structure refers to the organization of your bones. Ideally, they are organized so that you can stay upright without working your muscles. The weight of your head goes down through your spine, into your pelvis, and the bones in your legs take that weight down to the ground and let gravity do its job. Your arm and shoulder bones are designed to let your arms hang in a resting position so you don't have to hold them there with muscle strength.

Tight, overworked muscles happen when we use them instead of our skeleton to hold ourselves up. Muscles are supposed to be used for movement, not for structure. That's why your back hurts after slouching for a long time. You were depending on muscles to hold you in that sitting position instead of your bones, because the skeleton is not designed for slouching.

Does that make more sense?

[hydingjekyll]

It absolutely does. I just wasn't sure if that was what "structural strength" referred to, or if there are different levels of skeletal strength. I hadn't really thought about it in the sense of letting your bones hold you in place instead of your muscles, too; that makes lots of sense.

Thanks for sharing all this information! I think biomechanics is a fascinating science.