A Guide to Better Movement: The Science and Practice of Moving with More Skill and Less Pain

Most muscles will fire most efficiently and powerfully if they are preloaded into a moderate stretch before contracting. This allows the muscle to take advantage of elastic recoil and stretch reflexes.

Many runners think running faster is all about getting fitter and better able to expend energy. They want to put a bigger engine in the car. That is a good idea of course, but another key factor in performance is simply learning to take the foot off the brake.

Professional marathon runners use about 30 percent less energy to accomplish the same work as an average runner.

We can define efficiency in movement as the ratio of useful work performed compared to the cost (either in energy or mechanical stress) required to perform it.

For example, the thoracic spine tends to become excessively stiff into extension and rotation, and the lumbar and cervical vertebrae compensate by becoming hypermobile into each of these directions. To use the team analogy, the thoracic spine is sitting on the bench during extension and rotation, while the low back and neck are doing extra work in the field and possibly getting injured as a result.

First, excess stiffness at one joint will cause compensatory hypermobility at an adjacent joint that is a team member in the same multisegmental movement. Second, these patterns are to some extent predictable.

Take the simple example of turning to look behind you. You have twenty-four vertebrae in your spine, each of which are capable of some amount of rotation with respect to its neighbor (some more than others, of course). If the work of rotation is proportionately distributed amongst the vertebrae according to their rotational ability, then the movement will be experienced as smooth and easy. But if some of the vertebrae are not contributing to the movement, then others will be put under mechanical stress.

you bend to touch your toes, numerous joints will cooperate to move you in the desired direction.
If each joint contributes a moderate range of motion according to its own anatomy, then no one joint has to push beyond its comfortable range of motion. On the other hand, if for some reason one of the segments does not contribute much motion, then other joints will be obliged to push beyond their comfort zone.

Some common directions into which people tend to lose neutral joint position during movement are upper cervical extension, thoracic flexion, scapular elevation and internal rotation, thoracolumbar extension, hip flexion, and foot pronation.

Moshe Feldenkrais stated that one of the most important criteria for good movement is the ability to move in any direction at any time with a minimum of preparation.