James Earls - Born to Walk: Myofascial Efficiency and the Body in Movement

BORN TO WALK

Myofascial Efficiency and the Body in Movement

Second Edition

JAMES EARLS

Copyright 2014, 2020 by James Earls. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information, contact Lotus Publishing or North Atlantic Books.

First published in 2014. This second edition published in 2020 by

Lotus Publishing

Apple Tree Cottage, Inlands Road, Nutbourne, Chichester, PO18 8RJ and

North Atlantic Books

Berkeley, California

Drawings Amanda Williams and Medlar Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd.

Text Design Medlar Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., India

Cover Design Paula Morrison, Jim Wilkie

Printed and Bound in India by Replika Press

Born to Walk: Myofascial Efficiency and the Body in Movement, Second Edition is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 913088 10 1 (Lotus Publishing)

ISBN 978 1 623174 43 9 (North Atlantic Books)

Library in Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Names: Earls, James, author.

Title: Born to walk : myofascial efficiency and the body in movement / James Earls.

Description: Second Edition. | Berkeley : North Atlantic Books, 2020. | First edition published 2014. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019048298 (print) | LCCN 2019048299 (ebook) | ISBN 9781623174439 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781623174446 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Walking--Physiological aspects. | Fitness walking.

Classification: LCC RA781.65 .E27 2020 (print) | LCC RA781.65 (ebook) | DDC 613.7/17--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048298

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019048299

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

It is a great pleasure to introduce readers to incisive ideas. James Earls is a critical thinker; when he applies his brain to a question like gait, the result is worth the effort to read and understand. This is true of Born to Walk , where human plantigrade posture and bipedal gait are given the full circle of his imaginative but no-nonsense treatment.

It is also a great personal pleasure, of course, to see the ideas of Anatomy Trains , first published in 1997, taken up and expanded into this bold new work. The application of the Anatomy Trains myofascial meridian lines in the dynamics of gait (rather than the compensatory patterns of posture, as it was originally put into practice) is an exciting new direction for the Anatomy Trains model.

We live in a dynamic era, poised atop two crucial turning points. One is the dynamic between the old anatomythe reductive anatomy of the musculoskeletal system as we have understood it since Vesaliusand the more holistic vision implied by the Anatomy Trains model, fractal mathematics, systems theory, and a host of recent research on myofascial force transmission. The attempt in Anatomy Trains , and certainly the attempt here in this book, is to bend these two ends and make them meet.

Particulate anatomythis muscle goes from origin to insertion and thus performs this set of actionsis clearly inadequate to explain what is going on during daily coordinated movement. On the other hand, the holistic premiseeverything is connected to everything elsewhile true, leaves the questioner in a vacuous world where everything is possible. So how do we strategize? How do we decide where to go and what to do next and when we are finished?

The parts view and the holistic view must be married, and Born to Walk gets them at least affianced, if not all the way down the aisle. The physiotherapist will find much in this book to get his or her teeth into in terms of specifics and isolating tests for determining the site of malfunction, and the model is built on classic gait theory. The holistic practitioner will likewise find much to fill in the everythings connected trope with practical advice as to how to see, assess, and work with the whole person in motion.

The second turning point we are at, in this early part of the twenty-first century, is the increasing amount of somatic alienation and sensori-motor amnesia that we see in our texting young, our sedentary workers, and our debilitated elderly. Clearly, we need an integrated approach to KQ (Kinesthetic Intelligence, Movement Literacy) for our urbanized populacea group that includes more than just city dwellers. I live in a town of six hundred souls in a lovely, rural part of the United States, but I still live an entirely urbanized life.

Aside from educating current and upcoming generations, we need to educate our professional brethren. The emerging field of Spatial Medicinechanging the body position or movement to change the personwill bring together orthopedic doctors, physiatrists, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, personal trainers, Pilates and yoga teachers, bodyworkers and manual therapists of all stripes, and somatic educators like Alexander Technique teachers and Feldenkrais practitioners. In my experience, each of us has something to learn from all these approaches, each of which have something to offer the whole field, and each separate school of thought has much to learn from the other parts of the field.

Over the next generation, all these tender shoots will eventually bind into a strong and comprehensive theory of anthropological development, biomechanics, physical education, rehabilitation, and skill maintenance that will promote a functional body, no matter what ones individual circumstances are. As we move behind the tail of the Industrial Revolution and enter the mouth of the Electronic Era, this effortto reach out, understand the value in other approaches, and to apply the results toward a grand theorywill take on greater and greater significance, as our childrens connection with nature is curtailed and virtual reality becomes less virtual and more palpably real.

Born to Walk is a vital step along this path, the bringing together of the holistic and the classical view to understand the uniqueness of human gait in terms that are both practical and visionary, scientific and poetic, grounded and uplifting.

I enjoy the book you have in your hands, and I expect that you will too.

Thomas Myers

Clarks Cove, Maine

November 11, 2013

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

It is a privilege and a relief to write a second edition. A privilege because it means that the first one proved itself enough to warrant a rewrite, and a relief because it gives the opportunity to make a few corrections and add numerous updates. The dedicated few of you who read and studied the first edition (thank you!) will notice a number of changes that I consider improvements. Many of these changes have been guided by the feedback, criticism, and suggestions that Ive received from you. For those reading this title for the first time (also, thank you!), I hope you find what you are looking for. If not, let me know and I will do my best for the next edition.