It turns out that the way many of us have been thinking about the sources of pain in the body is wrong. Pain is not isolated in one just one place. It’s part of a complex system that is your anatomy where everything is connected. My guest, Gary Ward, has reshaped the way I assess and treat patients with his revolutionary approach.

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Gary, the creator of Anatomy in Motion, takes a unique and revelatory approach to understanding how the human body moves. Usually starting with the feet he connects all the parts to see how and why someone is experiencing chronic pain and then addresses the issue at its source. In doing so, Gary is helping educate people about their own bodies so that they can take charge of their own health.

I use Anatomy in Motion every day in the clinic and it’s been amazing. It’s helped so many patients receive the relief they need without having to resort to surgery or other drastic measures. Gary and I talk about the ways people overlook sources of pain and the many amazing solutions he uses to fix them.

When have you had pain in one place only to find it is due to something completely different? Tell me about it in the comments!

In this episode:

• What a neutral foot is and how to understand the relationship between all the foot’s joints
• Finding your center by establishing good and repeatable habits
• The way in which muscles react to the actions of the joints and why this is a revolutionary way to view their relationship
• Why pronation of the foot is actually far less common than supination
• The role that old injuries play in creating lasting compensations and how to overcome them
• The many benefits of using corrective foot wedges

Quotes:

“There’s a huge difference between looking and seeing. A lot of people are looking at feet and they’re not really seeing the feet for what they can do.” [5:23]

“If we move the skeleton, we can directly influence the tissue.” [20:04]

“Pronation is evil, but actually the value you get from pronating is insane because you get to put all of your muscles to work and give them a job to do and that job is to pull the bones into supination. So you can’t pronate without supinating because the two are intrinsically connected.”  [25:32]

“Good shit is going to happen when you start putting back movement that’s been lost.”  [44:54]

Links:

Win a copy of Gary’s book!

Gary’s book What The Foot

Find Gary online at Finding Centre

Follow Gary on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

George Monbiot’s Ted Talk

“Doctor in the House”