Many blame their age  for loss of balance, coordination, and general ease of movement. But often I find the issue is more about how the brain is telling the body to move, and not the age, strength, or flexibility of the body itself.  In other words, it’s more of a software matter, rather than the age of their hardware. 

We all have movement programs, aka motor patterns, set aside in the auto-pilot part of our brains.  For instance, you probably no longer think to focus while tying your shoe laces.

But very common occurrences can disrupt and subtly change your motor patterns. This can happen multiple times over the course of your life.  Even if you workout in a gym everyday, these fragmented and re-organized movement patterns can add up to less coordinated movement, loss of balance, and uneven wear on your joints. 

Common Triggers to Movement Pattern Disruption:

Previous Injury or Surgery:   Injuries heal. However, bits of the compensations the brain organized to avoid the injury, like limping or using crutches, might remain in your brain’s auto-pilot program for “walk.” 

Chronic or Non-Specific Pain:  Sometimes pain can be chronic, meaning the pain remains even after the injury itself has healed.  Weeding out the compensations that help you avoid pain from those that might create more issues could be beneficial. 

Pregnancy: This one isn't so subtle!  Mothers know that they were walking differently during the third and the post-birth “fourth trimester.”  

Athletic or Dance Training: Most sports have specialized and repetitive motions. When athletes stop or retire, they can hold on to these specialized motions even when they are no longer advantageous. 

Former Fashionistas:  Your motor patterns change when wearing high heels, and might stick with you when making the switch to flats. 

Convalescing or a Sedentary Lifestyle:  As everyday movements like walking, stair climbing, and overhead reaching become more foreign and challenging, the brain will deploy compensations to get whatever movement it can.  

High levels of Stress, Anxiety, or Depression: Transient moods are reflected in our posture and body language.  But crisis can temporarily change our body awareness and proprioception.  Those changes can help us get through the crisis, but long periods of stress allow for these changes to become habituated. 

The Good News

The good news is you can change and improve your automatic patterns! 

​Physical bodies are different, and everyone has their personal history of compensations.  At PIVOT, we specialize in private sessions to help optimize your personal movement.   Whether you workout everyday or shy away from movement due to arthritis or joint replacement, upgrading your movement software can help you restore balance, coordination, and ease of movement to your life.

To book a Restorative Exercise session at our Union Square studio, click here.

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As a dog lover and owner, I didn't need to read this recent study demonstrating that dog owners often fulfill the recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week just by walking their dog. But this study showed more than just that.  The researchers found that the dog owners were also more physically active, even without their dog's company. Possibly another example of movement begets movement, or the flip side of "use it or lose it."


Of course the article does responsibly point out that more than just the need of exercise should be considered before getting a dog.  If pet ownership is too much responsibility, you can borrow a friend's dog or volunteer at a shelter.  When needing a break from the pilates studio, I often walk to the dog park in Union Square for a little dog entertainment!

Want to exercise even more with your dog? Check out these ideas from the dog experts at www.yourdogadvisor.com.

As this The Globe and Mail article states, people can be find themselves thinking about balance issues and fall prevention surprisingly early in life.  Instead of touring the sidewalks and cobblestones of the world in their 50s and 60s, they stay close at home to avoid a trip and fall.  And if diagnosed with Osteoporosis, being a "fall risk" is even more scary.

But why are balance issues happening so early in life?  Again we can blame sedentary lifestyles. Muscle atrophy can rob you of both strength and proprioception, which is the sense of your body in space.  Joint stiffness can keep you from lifting your knee and foot high enough to completely clear different types of ground surfaces.  Hip weakness reduces the amount of time you can safely support yourself on one leg.  Painful bunions and hammer toes can diminish your ability to stay balanced on your feet. 

To keep enjoying life in all of your years, it's important to focus on more than just cardiovascular health.  A physical routine that moves your full body in many different planes of motion helps maintain the necessary strength, balance, and coordination to avoid trips and falls.  

At PIVOT, we combine Pilates, Restorative Exercise, and gait training to keep our clients on their feet and traveling the world! 
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Just finished the latest The Guardian Long Read: Why Exercise Alone Won't Save Us.  If you've worked with me for any length of time, most of it should already sound familiar!  For everyone else, here is my TL;DR:

​For optimal health, the body needs to be in fairly constant, varying motion.  At the cellular level, this provides oxygenated blood flow to all parts of our body, and the “clean-up crew” lymph circulating.  However, technology and convenience are robbing us of the movement we evolved with, and our overall health is suffering because of it. 

Doing intense exercise 2-3 times a week has benefits, but in itself it doesn't come close to the slow to moderate and varying movement our bodies rely on for optimal health. In addition, intense workouts combined with an otherwise sedentary lifestyle might leave your joints feeling aches and pains too early in life, discouraging you from further movement. So, attempting to squish all the movement you need for optimal health into one or two intense sessions a week isn't the best strategy.

If you want to elongate your life and enjoy the extra years, you have to keep moving.  Walking, squatting, stair climbing, pushing and pulling. Take every opportunity you have to walk. Take the stairs. Twist and reach for things. Get down on the floor and get back up. Change sitting positions often. When you need rest you rest, and then move again.

At PIVOT, our expertise is in evaluating your movement patterns, introducing movements you lack, and retraining patterns that no longer serve you. Our aim is to optimize your movement so you can continue moving....freely and independently....for a long time!

Often clients tell me their backs can feel tight, stiff, or achy after walking more than usual, and they want to know what to do about it!  My (not so) secret to easing the backache that comes with long walks is the 10 second squat sit.

The squat sit unloads your spine and gives the glute and back muscles a gentle stretch.  Upon standing, your glute and core muscles concentrically contract, readying them for another walk about. 

​And think about it:  If you were a hunter/gatherer, you'd probably drop down into a squat once or twice a day when nature called.  Now it's NOT always good to look to the past to make health choices for today.  (please keep your vaccines up to date!)  But our evolutionary history of walking proves to still be a healthful choice for modern humans today, and I believe the 10 second squat sit is another human movement best done daily, even though there are plenty of chairs around. 

If you have tight ankles and hips, you might need to hold on to something in front of you.  Or, go for the "I'm tying my shoe" squat with one heel down at a time.  Those with uneven knee flexion ranges may fair better with a few cat/cows while on all fours.