Movement 101

As babies, we humans were very flexible. We could easily put our toes in our mouth and keep it there until our family comes and pulls it out. However, as we grow up our habits tend to get the better of us and our flexibility goes for a toss. Most of us who work in the Corporate tend to sit in front of computer screens for close to 8 - 10 hours a day.

We spend so much time on our mobile phones and completely ruin our necks.

Does this help get our body in check? Absolutely not. The resulting postures are as below :

What can we do to correct our postures? The first thing is to understand how our joints work.
The human body has the following major joints : Spine (Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar), Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist, Hips, Knees and Ankles. Each of these joints move in their respective planes. Before I proceed, let me tell you what the planes are : Saggital Plane, Frontal Plane and Transverse Plane. Movements in these planes are often described as below :

1. Saggital Plane : The Sagittal plane passes through the body front to back, so dividing it into left and right. Movements in this plane are the up and down movements of flexion and extension.
2. Frontal Plane : The frontal plane divides the body into front and back. Movements in this plane are sideways movements, called abduction and adduction.
3. Transverse Plane : This plane divides the body into top and bottom. Movements in this plane are rotational in nature, such as internal and external rotation, pronation and supination.
   ( I will explain the above below!)

Coming to the movement across the planes, I'll explain this with respect to the major joints in our body.

I. The Shoulder Joint : This joint moves across all three planes, Saggital, Frontal and Transverse. Hence, Extension and Flexion, Abduction and Adduction and Internal and External Rotation can be performed by the Shoulder Joint.

II. The Wrist Joint : This Joint again moves through all three planes of motion.

III. The Elbow Joint : It moves only in the saggital plane and can perform flexion and extension.

IV. Spine : The Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar spine moves across all three planes.

a) Cervical Spine :

b) Thoracic Spine :

c) Lumbar Spine :

V. Hip Joint : The Hip joint is one of the most mobile joints in the body and can traverse through all three planes.

VI. Knee Joint : Knee joints, much like the elbow, can only perform flexion and extension.

VII. Ankle Joint :