Anatomy Trains Structural Essentials:

Arches and Legs

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Course Description

Underpinning all of our structure is the foot’s interaction with the ground, imbalances here clearly have consequences further up the body. Effective arch balance can be essential for easy and graceful walking, pelvic stability, low back efficiency and even head and neck support. The feet and legs are literally the foundation for the rest of our structure and this workshop will analyse the bones of the feet and how they conspire to help or hinder the arches. We will look at the forces coming from the leg muscles and create strategies to help maintain better mechanics by dealing with myofascial restrictions and imbalances.

Course Objectives

• Make a differential analysis of the feet and legs in relation to the rest of the movement chain, and to recognize relationships within the skeleton
• Conduct an assessment of the foot and leg support of the three (or four) foot arches
• Learn how the arches work during walking and standing and what their relationship is with regard to the pelvis and the Anatomy Trains lines
• Learn how to find a balance in the support that the arches have from the long muscles of the calf
• Teach effective methods to solve rotatory compensations in the foot, the tibial fibula complex and the knee
• Learn how the knee and hip structures work together to achieve this and learn to recognize some of the structural dysfunctions that can occur
• 'Reading' the various forms of imbalance that can occur
• Learning to balance common rotational patterns from the knee

Prerequisites

You must have completed Anatomy Trains in Structure & Function (ATSF) to participate in this course. Keep in mind, once you have completed ATSF, you are eligible to take all 6 Structural Essentials courses. These can be taken in any order, or as one intensive format in our ATSI Part 1 course. The 6 ATSE courses are:

1. Arches & Legs
2. Fans of the Hip
3. Abdomen, Breath and Chest
4. Tensegrity Spine
5. Shoulders and Arms
6. Head, Neck and Jaw

Accreditation

This course is accredited by both Stichting Keurmerk Fysiotherapie and Kwaliteitshuis Fysiotherapie (Vakinhoudelijk algemeen) for 23 points.

Meet your Teacher(s)

This course is will be taught by either Michael Watson or Don Thompson, depending on the date.

Preparation: Recommended Literature

This course is based on the myofascial meridians outlined in the book, "Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual Therapists and Movement Professionals" by Thomas Myers. We highly recommend reading this book before your course if you have not already.

The fascial release techniques you will learn in this course stem from the book, "Fascial Release for Structural Balance" by James Earls & Thomas Myers.

If you'd like more information about the concept of BodyReading, we recommend "BodyReading: Visual Assessment and the Anatomy Trains," by Thomas Myers.

Locations

This course is offered in:

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands

View the course page to see all available dates and locations.

Language of Instruction

This course is taught in English. 🇬🇧

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Next Steps

Once you have completed all 6 ATSE courses - either as 6 individual courses or 1 intensive format (ATSI part 1) - you are eligible to continue towards a Anatomy Trains Structural Integration Certification.

The next step in this journey is: Anatomy Trains Structural Strategies (Part II).

The final step is: Anatomy Trains Structural Integration (Part III).

Structural Integration Certification Map

*Click to enlarge image

Click here to learn more about the Anatomy Trains Structural Integration Certification Program.