Asymmetry.  Up Leg.  Compression.  Push Down.  Space.  Rotational Organization.  These all describe the physics of one half of the body accepting load, and one half of the body avoiding load.  The first time I wrote about this, I referred to it as a Non-Central Axis.  Very generally put, the brain has a perception of center that is skewed left or right from actual center, and it treats the halves accordingly.  A follow up piece investigated the different movements that stemmed from the different positioning:

“The body is meant to work in two length-wise halves, in order to be a sustainable structure/ have endurance.  If you stand with weight evenly placed in both legs you can’t last as long as if you unconsciously go back and forth between legs… same as walking… one side works while the other one rests.  The issues arise and become compensatory asymmetries when we spend too much time in inappropriate positions relative to each side and then train them.” — Nicole Uno

Where things line up influence how they are used, and how they are used influences where things line up.

The lines follow load.  The loaded half pulls the center toward it.  Load accepts rotation into.  It is the unloaded half that typically runs into problems.  It ‘gets out of the way’, and places itself relative to the loaded half.  The unloaded half works with the loaded half, but the loaded half does not work with the unloaded half.  It has no trust in it.

Work ‘with’ means work together.  One half pushes into the other because it knows it will get stable resistance.  One latches down, one lifts.  Trying to lift or shift laterally on it’s own, a half struggles.  It needs the other.  The side that accepts load also accepts rotation.  It can spiral onto itself and accommodate for torque.  It creates space for the action to occur.  The side that does not accept load adjusts its shape like a kickstand in response to that systemically preferred constant.

Once upon a time I would have described this as a mobile and a stable side.  But it is too simplistic to form an accurate truth.  The slingshot and the handle?  The hand is constantly moving it about.

We come back to perception, which is linked to trust.  I believe in what I reliably do.  I have that default pattern because conditions were right for one half to assume a role.  The other became its pair to compliment that role.  The reinforcements are reciprocal.

Before I abruptly end this philosophical post, I will offer up a few examples.  My up leg is the side which accepts load.  My center is shifted in that direction.  Most of the issues that pop up occur on the opposite side, the side that avoids load (and has no sense of home, always orienting relative to what the loading side is doing.)  My down leg has trouble pushing down.  It buckles instead of holds, in the foot, ankle, hip, and ribs.  I have to manually/ consciously adjust that scapula to act on the ribs to act on the lower quadrant to act on the pelvis and hip.  The neck lengthens and reorients.  The tilt  away disappears.

For the visual learners, here is a simple three block visual representation of the femurs and pelvis.  Take from it what you wish:

Feature Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.