THE SLACKBOW IMPROVES STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION AND FLEXIBILITY

Find out how SlackBow Balance Training can alleviate pain in your life.

I brought a SlackBow to our annual Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) retreat in Oracle, AZ.

One of the board members, Dr. Greg Nicosia took to the SlackBow in a big way. He spent much of his time during the breaks using our protocol to train on the SlackBow.

At breakfast the next morning Greg excitedly reported to me that in the last several months he has had pain and tightness on the upper hamstring on his left leg and that over the months he has been constantly trying stretch those muscles out with no success.  His effort to stretch the hamstring was attempting to touch his toes but could only reach to 6 inches above his ankles.

After telling this story and right in front of the breakfast buffet, he bent over and almost put his palms on the floor.  He said this morning, the tightness was gone as well as the pain.  Wow!

I got to thinking, “What happened?  How could one hour of training on the SlackBow help someone with his condition?” I know when I train athletes that their muscle and neurological systems have to go into balance to be able to balance on the SlackBow. In Greg’s case, it may have been that he had begun that structural rebalancing process. Once his neurological system started to go into balance, his leg muscle released.  It could not have been stretching the muscles or any changes in muscle strength. The time on the SlackBow was too short for that.
Somehow there was neurological re-education of his muscle firing patterns after balance training on the SlackBow.

Balance Training. Whether it is shoulder or low back pain, or even headaches, balance training is very important. You can train your body by lifting more, or by stretching until you can wrap your legs behind your head. But what happens when you get off balance and your back goes out? What happens when your knee is strong when you walk straight, but it can’t handle a quick change in direction to the side? That’s why balance training is just as important as any of the other rehab strategies. The basic balance progression involves doing things on stable surfaces first and then moving to unstable surfaces.

 

Jim KlopmanComment