Sense of balance and the primary control

Sense of Balance and Primary Control

Alexander Technique - Pedro Souza

“You can’t do something you don’t know if you keep on doing what you do know.”

- F.M Alexander

The magnificence of the human body goes beyond our perception of reality. We are experiencing the world through this living organism, and our idea of self lean on our body functions. We can not have an experience if it is not sensed, heard or sight.

The Alexander Technique is an educational method developed by F.M Alexander (1869-1955). The technique works with the individual in their psychophysical unit, which teaches us how to use ourselves (mind/body) efficiently. By working on the depths of our embodied self, A.T. allows us to change our habits at their core.

To change a habit (mental or physical), we need to be aware of them first. And one way to be aware of our patterns is to watch how we are doing in the present moment.

The method developed by Alexander has three pillars that sustain the process of psycho-physical reeducation. (1) By Observing ourselves, we come to understand the impulses underneath our habits. Observation brings us to conscious attention. (2) Once we become aware of a pattern, we must Inhibit it. This process is an ongoing act of “not-doing” that helps to increase our awareness of our patterns of thinking and reacting. Although we want to inhibit our automatic responses, we still looking for movements. (3) The next step is to decide which Directions we will take. Direction is the principle that allows the new thinking process to manifest.

To change a habit (mental or physical), we need to be aware of them first. And one way to be aware of our patterns is to watch how we are doing in the present moment. These three pillars are the foundation of any Alexander Technique class, which allow us to identify and modify our habits. The idea is to release the extra tension held through the whole body by starting with the head-neck-spine relationship and passing down through the entire body.

This work is about optimising our sensory-motor control through the primary control, the relationship of head-neck-spine to the whole body in response to gravity and movement. These principles are applied in the form of thoughts; you think about them and let your body respond to them.

“There exists in men, as in all other vertebrates, a primary control conditioning the proper use of the total organism. When the head is in a certain relation to the trunk, then the entire psycho-physical organism is functioning to the best of its natural capacity.” Aldous Huxley, The Saturday Review of Literature.

The primary control is the leading movement during balancing, standing, walking, and sitting. It is a master reflex in coordinating the whole psychophysical organism. (F.M, The Use of The Self, 1932)

Our sense of balance (equilibrioception) is responsible for balance and spatial orientation. It contributes to our ability to not fall over when standing or moving. Equilibrioception works in conjunction with other sensory systems simultaneously: (1) proprioceptors (body awareness of position and movement of body parts); (2) visual system (sight, and it helps us maintain awareness of position when moving or non-moving); and the (3) vestibular system (perceives and initiates movements to maintain equilibrium and orientation). These sensory systems also work in response to what is happening in our environment and our emotional state. So, let’s have a look at how these systems work during balance.

Proprioceptors

Sense of position

The alignment of body parts entails complex interactions between bones, joints, fascia, muscles, and the nervous system. Proprioceptors are sensory organs found in ligaments, muscles and tendons. They are responsible for sending the central nervous system information about pressures, tensions, and especially about the position and movement of the body.

1. Proprioceptors in Muscle

There are stretch receptors (muscle spindles) responsible for detecting changes in the length of a muscle. It contributes to motor control and informs the central nervous system about limb position. Muscle spindles have a reflexive response by contracting the tissue to prevent overstretching and damage of muscle fibres. This reflex is very fast, just from peripheral nerves to the spinal cord and back. The purpose of these receptors is to protect the body from injury caused by overstretching and to keep muscle tone.

A simple example of how muscle spindles work is when you're half asleep on a travel bus, and each time your head falls forward, the reflex of the posterior muscles of your neck contracts bringing your head back to its natural position. This reflex is constant on upright posture, where it keeps shifting between muscles - antagonistic pairs.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dp7A4IKyY

2. Proprioceptors in Tendon

Known as Golgi Tendon Organ, these receptors are found within tendons attached with extrafusal muscle fibres. Golgi Tendon organ detects tension in the muscle-tendon complex, and it functions as a protective mechanism to ensure that abnormal forces are not transferred to the bones. As tension in the muscle increases, the GTO sends signals to the spinal cord that inhibits muscle activation creating a relaxation reflex. The GTO gives us a sense of heaviness.

3. Proprioceptors in Ligament

Studies on proprioceptors in ligaments are still debatable and controversial. However, studies about proprioception on knee ligaments can give us some clues on how these receptors work. Articular receptors work like mechanoreceptors, sensitive to pressure and distortion. The mechanoreceptors located on the four major ligaments in the knee work dynamically by each one responding to a different stimulus; pressure, position, movement/speed, and amplitude. The primary role of joint receptors is to protect the joint when the articulation is near its maximum range of motion, initiating protective muscle reflexes.

By its automatic reflexive responses to muscle stretch, proprioceptors work together and dynamically between muscle-tendon-ligament, maintaining stability throughout the body. An articulation can not move without a muscle shortening, which will affect muscle and tendon length and antagonistically stretches the opposite muscles resulting in joint movement. These neurosensory organs work by regulating muscle tension through the body, which allows us to stand on two legs and move in many directions.

Vestibular system

When we think about balance, we need to consider the vestibular system. Located in the inner ear in a system of compartments called the vestibular labyrinth, which is continuous with the cochlea, the vestibular system is responsible for delivering information to our brain about the head position, motion, and spatial orientation. It also involves the motor functions that allow us to keep our balance, stabilise our head and body during movement, and maintain posture.

There is a hypothesis that the Vestibular System plays a crucial role during the first stages of development in both sensorimotor and cognitive functions and the construction and perception of the “self”.

The vestibular labyrinth incorporates three semicircular canals located in a plane in which the head can rotate. Each of the canals has a fluid called endolymph, which moves according to the head's position. The movement of this fluid influences the sensory receptors located inside the vestibular system that releases neurotransmitters to the brain about our head position, giving us spatial orientation and dynamic/static balance.

Visual System

Did you know that the visual system influences balance and spatial orientation?. More than half of the brain is engaged in processes visual information, which is devoted to converting inputs received from the eyes into neural messages, which give us information about light, colour, shapes, motion and direction.

The information is perceived by the photoreceptors, light-sensitive cells located in the retina. There are two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. Rods are more sensitive to light and dark changes, shape and movement, while cones are more sensitive to colours. Photoreceptors are responsible for providing visual orientation from one object to the other and contributing to spatial orientation and balance. There is also the dynamic reflex of the eyes (vestibule-ocular reflex) that secure visual stability under any circumstance in which mismatched movements of the head and the visual surroundings impair visual stability. This reflex moves the eyes in the opposite direction when the head position changes (vestibular system).

Now we have some basic understanding of how our physiology works regarding balance and movement, let’s come back to the Alexander Technique and its Primary Control.

Head & Neck/Spine relationship

Aka Primary Control

Primary control is the term used by Alexander referring to the continuous organisation of the head-neck-torso in coordination with the rest of the body and movement. This term is about a skill acquired when applying the three principles, Observation, Inhibition and Direction, in this dynamic relationship.

We saw that the position of the head strongly influences our coordination, balance, and spatial orientation. The human development process takes years to reach maturity. After birth, our coordination starts with several reflexes working simultaneously in the body. Primitive reflexes, tonic neck reflex, for example, is present in newborns and gets stronger around three months of age. Tonic neck reflex happens by the rotation of the head, making the arms and leg extend to the side which the head turned. These early reflexes help develop our neurological patterns by dividing the body at the midline, which later will assist in crawling.

The proprioceptors, the vestibular system, and the visual system work at the same time in relation to the body in space and gravity. The position of the head contributes dramatically to how we move and coordinate ourselves. It is common to hear students report a feeling of floatation and lightness in the body when the head moves freely.

So when it comes to our sense of balance, we need to see how we organise ourselves into space and gravity. The Alexander Technique teaches us to let go of excessive muscular tension while allowing the body to restore its natural balance. When we quieten our system, we allow the subtle neuromuscular reflexes of the primary control (head and neck reflex) to initiate the fine adjustments throughout our bodies. (Dimon Article 4)

The efficiency of primary control (how we organize our heads) is primordial when we seek to improve skills, coordination, posture and well-being. If you are interested in releasing the tensions in your neck, you can find a qualified Alexander teacher in your area or feel free to send me a msg. I currently teach the Alexander Technique online (worldwide) and in-person in the region of Alphaville, SP - Brazil. References: Vestibular System https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/kinesthesia https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/vestibular-system https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Equilibrioception https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_balance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMIMvBa8XGs https://vestibular.org/news/12-23-2016/connection-between-vision-balance Proprioceptors https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/proprioception https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/kinesthesia Proprioceptors in ligaments: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-60428-7_3 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/17453679608997750 Alexander Technique https://www.alexander-technique-online.com/articles/defining-the-alexander-technique/the-primary-control/ https://www.hilaryking.net/glossary/primary-control.html https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360859219301196#bib5 Primary control https://www.poisealexandertechnique.com.au/articles/2017/11/7/the-core-of-alexander-technique-primary-control https://www.alexandertechnique.com/ats/rondenniscrisis.pdf https://www.alexander-technique-online.com/articles/primary-control/ Neck reflex https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/tonic-neck-reflex https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452203000952 http://www.neurorestart.co.uk/postural-reflexes/