ANATOMY IN MOTION

Pain is often just an overworking structure trying to get your attention, but in our quick-fix world, we often look to treat the problem, rather than the cause. AiM is a completely new way of looking at the relationship between pain and the way your body moves. The AiM system was developed by Gary Ward, an expert in human movement and anatomy. He is the author of “What the Foot?” and  was featured on BBC’s Dr in the House, helping a client rid himself of the life changing pain he had been carrying for over than 20 years.

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AiM taps into the way you move, your posture and the pain you might be experiencing, all of which are intrinsically linked.  Throughout your life, your body makes adaptations for all kinds of reasons such as injury, working posture, the bag you carry, having children and many more.  Often these compensations arise from a threat response.  If something is causing your body pain or discomfort your body will subconsciously do everything it can to avoid it.  This includes changing the way you move.  Moving differently every day quickly becomes a habit, and over time, these habits become your new ‘perceived normal.’ Although this new habit might be avoiding one threat, it is often creating others.

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Feet! Those two things on the end of your legs are the first, and usually only, point of contact with the ground - the things that all of your weight is supported by every day. To avoid pain, you usually have to change the way you carry your body, and this almost always effects how your feet function. Creating new habits in your feet mean that you will move in an altered way until you either consciously change the habit or it changes because of yet another adaptation. By teaching the feet how to take care of your mass properly we can set up how the rest of your body works on top of them.

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The body is the ultimate healer, but sometimes it needs a little help in creating the conditions in which to heal itself. As an experienced AiM practitioner, Sarah won’t try and ‘fix’ you, instead she will fully assess where your body has become stuck and what is stopping you from reaching your full movement potential (and hindering your quest for that perfect seat!). From there, she’ll guide you in the right direction and coach you and your body in how to do the rest. Through movement-based therapy you will learn how to move your body away from pain and into a more efficient movement pattern.

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When the body is balanced, discomfort usually starts to fade away. Sarah can help you re-educate your body to move freely again using the full range of movements available to you without fear of pain. Ultimately, AiM is always attempting to bring your body back to a neutral balanced place, and that can only ever be a good thing for you and your horse.