What is Ground Force Method?

This is an extract from a full series of articles written by me, but published in full on the Box 33 Adaptive Strength blog.

Ground Force Method is a system to improve the quality of movement. It is based on fundamental and primitive movement patterns. We all mastered these movement patterns as children, but many of us have lost the ability to move freely as we age. Lifestyle factors and lack of use are the biggest contributors to this loss of quality movement – when was the last time you just played in movement, got down and crawled or rolled around vs the last time you sat sedentary at a computer for several hours straight? Ground force method gets us playing with movement again, in order to rebuild our library of movement literacy. It re-educates the central nervous system and enables the body to move more freely, mindfully and with more skill.

Restores pain free movement.

Our brain, spinal cord and nerves form the central nervous system (CNS) which is essentially the boss of our body – it tells us what we can and can’t do and it strives to keep us safe. Mechanoreceptors in our joints send information, via the nerves to our brain, and the CNS interprets these signals to create a map of the body, in the brain. This awareness of body positioning is called proprioception. Poor proprioceptive information, resulting from reduced signals from mechanoreceptors, due to lack of use for a range of motion, lead the CNS to translate that there is a threat. This causes affected movement and sometimes pain. It’s our bodies way of getting us to pay attention. The use of good, slow, pain free or very low pain movement can be used to re-educate the CNS and reduce this action signal of pain. Ground force method trains proprioception, improving co-ordination and body self-awareness in order to reduce threat and therefore reduce pain.

Much of ground force method is performed through mirroring movements. Scientific research has shown that certain areas in the brain which are stimulated by mirroring effects, have also restored bodily functions and changed, reduced or even eliminated pain signals. The experience of GFM practitioners is that by using GFM with clients a change in pain perception can be initiated through slow and mindful movement. The playful nature and flow state also create a distraction from perceived pain or the threat of pain related to previous injury. GFM can be regressed and progressed, to make it scalable for everyone and GFM instructors are able to use their knowledge of movement practice to adapt movements, to not only work around an injury, but to work with injury to restore movement and rehabilitate joints.