The Gut & the Enteric Nervous System

The gut and Gastrointestinal (GI) system is the earliest formed system in the body. It is an organ system primarily responsible for transporting and digesting food, absorbing nutrients, and expelling waste. However there is more to this system than meets the eye.

The gut holds much of our lymphatic system tissues and because of this the toxins, debris and old emotional ‘stuff’ we hold onto is mostly in our gut! There is a huge connection between the GI systems, the lymphatic tissue and the way in which we hold onto our old emotional and physical experiences. Bt I’m getting ahead of myself, to set the scene, lets first do a quick review of this amazing system!

The Gut Anatomy and Physiology Review

The gut has a big movement component, when working well it is chugging along moving nutrients and waste through the whole system. The cells that are responsible for the movement of all aspects of the gut (all the way from the stomach, duodenum, Ileum, Jejunem, right down to the Colon) are called the ‘Interstitial Cells of Cajal’. These interstitial cells are specialised muscles cells responsible for the slow wave motile movement of the gut! They are stimulated by

interconnect with each other
connect with the plexus of cells
connection with incoming enteric motor neurones

The enteric Nervous System is inclusive of;

Myenteric plexus – controls the rate and strength of contractions (how fast and how strong the contractions will be)
Submucosal plexus – controls the rate and secretion of absorption (how fast things are absorbed and how fast they are secreted out)
Parasympathetic input – excitatory! These nerves release acetal choline. It’s pre ganglionic, controlling the vagus (the head) to the last half of the colon. 80% of the fibres in the vagus are aphrent to the brain, they go to the brain and they sense things! These nerves begin at the cranial nerves (specifically the oculomotor, facial, glosopharagneal, and vagus nerves) and the sacral (S2-4)
Sympathetic input – inhibitory! These nerves release norephenephrine. It post ganglionic, the location of these is T5-L2. If there is going to be a strong sympathetic stimulation (i.e. really stressed out) it will stop your GI tract.
Sensory feedback (which comes back from the gut epithelia) – signal goes up to the prevertabral ganglia in the spinal cord brain stem and medula

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic relationships to the visceral organs

Understanding the sympathetic and parasympathetic impacts on the gut is incredibly
important. For example have a look at how many of these visceral organs are innervated form the thorax spine.

AUTOMONIC-NS-supply-to-organs-of-the-body copy Parasympathetic-and-sympathetic-innervations

As anywhere in the body, the optimal firing of these nerve roots is crucial for the optimal function of the gut viscera.

Emotional Clearing of the Gut

Flushing out the GI system releases the entire GI system form what its been holding onto. When we start to unravel the thoracic spine and thus the innervation to the GI system we begin to think so much more clearly. Most of the neurotransmitter are produced and stored in the gut and then get transferred to the brain, which is why more recently the gut has been termed our ‘second brain’.

The Breath

In the past I have felt like there have been so many blog posts written about ‘the breath‘ that there couldn’t possibly be any more to say! However, I was wrong! I have been playing a lot with the breath in the past couple of weeks and I have some breakthrough news! There is always more to learn!

In the movement world it is common knowledge that the breath is important;

For the connection and control of the deeper abdominal and pelvic floor muscles (learn more here)

For the endurance and coordination of movement (learn more here)

As a means for increase or restricting the ranges of movement (learn more here)

However more recently I have also discovered the magical powers of the breathe in the process of controlling the mind! Ok … so you might think this is not new, in fact breath work for meditation and mindfulness has been around since forever and I would have to agree with you. However the insights I have recently gained are more to do with the use of the breath as a tool for entering and calming the mind.I have found them so powerful I wanted to share them with you here.

Exercise 1 – Using the breath to calm and center the mind

The purpose of this exercise is to enable the practice of mindfulness. We use the breath as a tool to help the mind center and return to its natural state of being aware, aware of the breath entering the nostrils, aware of the breath exiting the nostrils, aware of the rise and fall of the abdomen … just aware!

Exercise 2 – Following the breath, don’t lead it

The purpose of this slightly more advanced exercise is to allow the mind to just observe. All to often in body work practices we are giving the mind something to do, “feel you feet, lift your pelvic floor, exhale”. With this exercise we are asking the mind to simply observe, not instruct the autonomic pattern of the breathe. It can be hard at first as the mind naturally tries to exhort its will over the breath, when it should begin to breathe in, when it should begin to breath out and how long the pause in-between should be. As you practice, you will begin to see that you can in fact just observe the breathe, allow it to become light and fluffy, almost cloud like, and as you do so a tremendous sense of openness and joy will begin to fill the place you were previously feeling fear.

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Tensegrity nerd

I am a self confessed Tensegrity nerd, as my practice name ‘BPS Tensegrity’ might suggest. The scope of what Tensegrity can encompass both excites and confusses me at times and I know it often does more of the later for my patients. The question, “so what is Teeennsssgriiity?” is a common one and I feel that now is as good of a time as any to give my explanation of how Tensegrity fits into the Biological, Psychological and Social.

Tensegrity is a word derived by Buckminster Fuller from the words ‘tension’ and ‘integrity’, after having been introduced to Kenneth Snelson’s structures. Snelson define’s Tensegrity as;

“Tensegrity describes a closed structural system composed of a set of three or more elongate compression struts within a network of tension tendons, the combined parts mutually supportive in such a way that the struts do not touch one another, but press outwardly against nodal points in the tension network to form a firm, triangulated, prestressed, tension and compression unit.”

Tensegrity structures deriver their inherit stability from this floating tension, supporting themselves from within, rather than relying on compressive forces from without.

Dr Stephen Levin later coined the term biotensegrity to explain the biomechanical forces in biological life, but I think this can be taken further. Not only does Tensegrity make sense in our physical biomechanical forces, it also makes sense for our Psychological and Social spheres as well.

In the Psychological realm, I take ‘psychotensegrity’ to mean the ability of our ‘mind’/higher self/consciousness, what ever term you want to use, to flourish when it is supported from with and crumble when stressed from without. Similarly, ‘social-tensegrity’ refers to the preference of our social networks and environments to be supported by one another, acting as a unit, rather than compressed from the top down.

So, to summarise the things that biotensegrity, psychotensegrity and social-tensegrity have in common are their innate sense of internal support created through a pretensioned structures, and their failure under external compressive loads. Hopefully you can now start to understand and think a little different about the way you treat the biological, psychological and social elements of your life.

Bloating Can Be Effected By The Spine

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the role of your ‘gut’ in not only digestion but in other daily decision making processes. Some have gone as far as to call it the ‘second brain’, highlighting it’s role in our aptly named ‘gut instincts’ and even mood!

What does this have to do with movement you may well ask? I believe that a beautifully moving organism moves well both inside and out, and bowel movements are no exception. But … the plot thickens, not only is there movement (hopefully) in our bowel, there is also a substantial link between our more general body movements and our bowel’s peristalsis!

The enteric nervous system (the nervous system that controls our gut) communicates with central nervous system via both the parasympathetic (vagus nerve) and the sympathetic (prevertebral ganglia). We now know however that even when the vagus nerve is cut the enteric nervous system continues to work, however if the prevertebral ganglia are interrupted, all bowel movement stops! Why is this so interesting? If I told you that the prevertbral ganglia reside in the thoracic spine, you might be a little more intrigued. Then if I told you if our thoracic spine anatomy and physiology is interrupted, so to can be the effectiveness of our bowel movements!

This means, in essence, that if our thoracic spine alignment is non-optimal it can have drastic effects on the peristalsis of our small intestine and colon. It may also speak to why those in the movement world often experience the effect that extension of the thoracic spine has on improving our mood … but that discussion is for another time. In the meantime look after your thoracic spine, for if you don’t, you might find that your spine is not the only thing that stops moving!

Shoe Free Gyms

If your a gym owner or OH&S enforcer, the thought of shoeless gyms might make your toes curl … good … keep curling! I want to put forward the idea that what we are loosing by enclosing our feet in shoes (padded heels or minimalist) is much more than fungal foot diseases and sweaty floors.

Lets start with the foot and it’s role in our body’s biomechanics. The foot is the perfect ‘Tensegrity structure’ with it’s floating bones and viscose like movement, it supports the weight of our whole body as it connects to the ground. It is also (in the majority of exercises) the only part of our body which provides us with ‘closed chain’ feedback on our body’s position in space. Making it kind of like a feedback epicentre … now why would we want to enclose such a valuable structure in often over protective, sensitisation depleting, shoes!

The basic ‘Fan and Fold’ biomechanical explanation (Deb Treloar) of the foot, is a beautiful articulation of how the foot is meant to adapt and ‘suction’ to the floor. Think of a dancer warming up their feet, rolling up and down from the floor onto their toes and back again, this is a beautifully mobile foot, bones articulating over one another, like the vertebras of our spine. Joseph Pilates famously said “if your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old. If it’s completely flexible at 60 you are young” and I think this can be translated to our feet and I would like to consider if your feet are immobile or too mobile at any age, your not healthy!

From a biomechanical and problem solving point of view, I find it increasingly frustrating when I am assessing my patients functional movement and i can see the whole biomechanical chain except the foot. We don’t go to the gym, work with our trainer or rehab provider and wear jeans, so why do we inflict the same restriction on our feet! I know there are so many lower limb injuries coming from our feet, if only our rehab providers could see them!

So, if you would like to join the ‘shoe-free’ gym movement and free the epicentre of your connection to the ground let me know! The movement world will be a better place for shoeless feet and beautiful movement will begin to run free once more!

Core Stability – a ‘Mythunderstanding’

I have had many interesting and valid questions of late from a variety of health professionals and patients, centred around the question of core stability and its role in Pilates and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Many of them have been brought to light by Eyal Lederman’s recent article, ‘The Myth of Core Stability’ in The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 2010.

I feel obliged to mention that my point of view is shaped by my various lenses; Physiotherapist, Pilates Instructor, ConnectTherapy Practitioner (formerly known as ISM Practitioner), dancer and human movement enthusiast! Given this blending of manual and movement therapy, as well as the intermingling of evidence based practice, it is little wonder at times that I feel stretched between different paradigms and constantly evolving evidence and beliefs.

I appreciate Dr Lederman’s work in shining the evidence-based torch on ‘Core Stability’. It helps to keep us as health professionals honest when making evidence based decisions for our patients and acts as a guide to highlight where the ‘Marketing Health Machine’ has extrapolated research findings for use in its own purpose. However catchy, his title, ‘The Myth of Core Stability’, does little to help clarify the inconsistencies of language and understanding which currently surround the manual and movement therapy worlds. I believe the only myth here, lies in our definition of the term “core stability”, rather than in the actual practice of it!

If you define core stability purely in terms of ‘strength’ and limit it to being region specific (ie trunk musculature only), then the myth of core stability is rampant. Any good movement therapist will tell you that the body works as an integrated whole and practising only chest lifts on the mat, or holding a plank for 5 minutes will not cure nor prevent back pain brought on by 1 hour of sitting!

If you however define core stability in terms of the whole organism (physical body, both peripheral and central as well as the mind) then there is no myth at all. Hundreds of manual and movement therapists understand that a well-constructed movement session helps a body recovering from injury to regain options for movement both from a peripheral and central point of view. In fact what is happening in these sessions is not ‘core stability’ training as defined above but rather ‘integration’, whereby bodies are reminded how to ‘problem solve’ movement deficits through various central and peripheral paths.

Thus I think it is about time that we throw away the tarnished phrase ‘core stability’ and define a new term, a term that helps to build bridges between manual and movement therapists, aid communication and get back to improving the lives of our patients! A term like ‘Movement Integration’.