Joanne Elphinston’s Movement System - JEMS®
Over the last 15 years I have done various courses and some have stuck with me more than others. None more so than when I started my journey with Joanne Elphinston’s Movement System (JEMS®).
I came away inspired in how to encourage my patients to ‘explore possibilities rather than accept limitations, to discover ways to make movement possible, with more control, less effort, and a better outcome’ (One of Joanne Elphinston’s definitions of beautiful movement). My visceral manipulation training works well alongside JEMS® to promote the holistic way I like to treat patients, getting them back to the activities they enjoy.
Although, I still use many other forms of treatment, I usually find myself treating with these JEMS® principles at some point during each patient’s treatment journey.
Integrating the JEMS® concepts allows us to explore other ways to complete a task which you may otherwise be ‘stuck’ in. We can get stuck due to our posture, environmental demands, and psychological habits. i.e. the belief that the task should be done in a certain way simply because it always has been.
For example, I regularly see people with sore knees/back who state that they cannot do squats or lunges because of pain and so, they avoid them. However, these moves are often integral to supporting functional tasks such as sitting, playing with the kids, and housework. As well as more sporting activities like running. By using these techniques to help you work with your your body rather than against it, the aim is for you to come away with more confidence in your body to stop avoiding certain movements and get back to what you love.
So, what is JEMs?
JEMS® is the science and art of beautiful movement.
Built upon a foundation of neuroscience, biomechanics, psychology and rehabilitation research, and balanced by the insights of a wide variety of holistic movement approaches.
JEMS® is about exploring possibilities, rather than accepting limitations.
We all have spare capacity in our body systems, but rarely access that potential. Our brains and bodies are remarkably adaptable, and they respond to whatever inputs we feed them. So a balanced diet of movement experiences helps us to determine the body we will have tomorrow.
Taken from Joanne Elphinston’s webpage; https://JEMSmovement.com
Someone that moves well will have many varieties of force generation and options of movement available to them. So, if anything unexpected comes up their body can use one of these alternative methods for coping and minimise the chance of injury. I.e., tripping whilst running, when the dog takes off on a walk, or trying to pick up a toddler!
Someone that doesn’t move so well will have fewer options and therefore adapt poorly with an unexpected situation. This will likely cause extra stress on the body parts that they habitually use and can result in injury.
Naturally, through our work environments and life experiences we all have our own way of moving. As long as the demands we put on ourselves doesn’t regularly exceed our functional capability; we can remain uninjured. However, it’s when we do something out of our norm, and our ability to use other strategies is lacking, that we become vulnerable to injury.
With treatment we can help to establish your base line of what you can achieve and then build in increments new strategies to prevent overloading and developing further habits.
