Functional & Postural Training
What is functional and postural training?
At Systemic Life Center®, we specialize in transforming the way you move. Whether you’re an office worker grappling with lower back, neck, or shoulder pain, a professional artist or athlete recovering from an injury, or someone eager to explore new physical capabilities, we are here to help.
Our approach, known as “re-training,” focuses on restoring healthy and natural movement patterns that may have been lost or suppressed. We place you at the center of this process, observing your movements, listening to your needs, and setting clear, personalized goals together.
We develop customized strategies and programs specifically tailored to your unique situation, steering clear of generic solutions. Our methods are based on proven biomechanics principles and are delivered through a pedagogical approach, ensuring you receive effective, personalized care.
Your commitment, combined with our expertise and dedication, is the key to successfully reclaiming your natural movement and overall well-being.
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How does it benefit you?
How do we do it?
Functional and Postural Training: A Path to Movement Transformation
Functional and Postural Training is a form of re-training that focuses on changing your movement habits. By definition, it is centered around the movements and activities you perform daily. This approach is crucial for effectively increasing mobility, flexibility, coordination, and strength.
Why Movement Matters:
Experience and Feedback: You need to move to feel and experience the changes. Without movement, the impact of our training is difficult to perceive.
Progress Evaluation: Observing your movements allows us to evaluate and measure the progress of our work. The quality and standards of your movements are essential indicators of successful re-training.
Repetitive Improvement: Progress is achieved through repetitive movements. As you engage in these movements, you’ll discover new ways your body can move. Initially, the changes may be subtle, but with consistent practice, you’ll see increased amplitude in your movements.
Our approach ensures that we first build the necessary awareness and understanding with mobility and flexibility before focusing on coordination, strength, and intensity. This method provides a safe and effective way to train your body, minimizing the risk of injury.
Example of Our Approach:
Each client receives individualized attention tailored to their unique needs. While each case is different, our method typically follows this structured approach.
Working with us means exploring a new dimensions of movement, enhance your physical capabilities, and achieve a higher level of well-being.
Example of the principles we follow
1. Coming to SLC
A new client comes to the Systemic Life Center®. He is an office worker, with no prior injuries. He runs a couple of miles twice a week, occasionally goes to a fitness center and feels generally very healthy. At the end of his day of work however or after a long time spent standing in a museum, he will feel some discomfort or stiffness in his lower back.
2. Observation
The first stage of our work will be to observe you move in our studio. We will watch you walk, stand, sit and simply be yourself. During this observation, we notice that the lower part of your spine is much more mobile than your upper spine. In fact, your thoracic spine is barely moving.
3. Physical experience
We now have to create a physical experience for you that will enable you to understand but mainly to feel which part of your spine should move more. This occurs by guiding your movements according to well established principles of biomechanics.
4. Regaining mobility
This stage is of paramount importance because it allows you to gain a physical feedback corresponding to a new mobility in your body. Your upper spine will start to slowly move. The movements will be small but along several sessions it will become larger and larger. You will feel something changing in your body. A whole area was not moving and was forcing the body, which is very intelligent, to compensate and to strain other parts, more movable. By regaining mobility in the previously blocked region the natural balance of your body is restored. The compensation mechanism will stop. Simply said you will have learnt a new trick. Your body will be able to do something new.
5. Building strength
From this moment on, once we are confident you have enough mobility in your upper spine, we can start working on building strength and even more flexibility. The work becomes more intense and the exercises more challenging. You will train to move differently, to fully use your upper and lower spine in a coordinated manner.
6. Re-trained
The next stage is to experience this new mobility in your daily work. That is sitting at work or standing in a museum. Sitting at your desk at the office, you will stop trying to correct your posture to reduce the tension in your lower back. Instead you will consciously mobilize your whole spine and be aware of the way you sit when reaching for the phone or when picking up that pen from the floor. By doing that you will allow your body to be constantly in movement. Even small barely detectable movements are important. You will avoid the common stiffness associated with office work. You have been re-trained. Not only did you learn how to move your upper spine but you are now also capable of using this knowledge in everything you do.