Developmental Kinesiology and Its Implications

Developmental Kinesiology (DK) is the explanation of the spontaneous postural and

motor activity observed in the first sixteen months of an infants life, and more
generally extending through age six. This understanding provides us with a natural
foundation by which all humans developed basic movement and stabilization
patterns. In addition to its explanatory efficacy for posture, stabilization, and
movement, DK also outlines important milestones of motor development that all
infants undergo during their first 4-6 years of life. DK states that these primitive
movement patterns, such as diaphragmatic breathing with abdominal wall
pressurization, rolling over from supine to prone, and crawling, are all a result of
reflexive subcortical programs residing in the Central Nervous System. Thus, these
movement patterns are not simply a result of cognitive volition by the infant, but
more importantly, these motor programs are reflexively stimulated when specific
points of support on the infants body make contact with the ground. For example,
in prone, a 6-week old infant does not have the cognitive capacity to determine
that the best way to be able to lift its head properly is to support himself through
his forearms. Rather, the sense of support felt through their forearms when they
are in contact with the ground reflexively stimulates specific muscle chains
throughout their upper extremities and Cervical/Thoracic spine which allow the
infants to properly raise their heads.
The role of emotional motivation by the infant in wanting to observe its
environment, see its mothers face, or locate toys placed in front of them is, no
doubt, also a driving factor in spontaneous motor activity, but the software that
primarily allows for these movements to take place is reflexive in nature, as well as
universal to all humans. Since the patterns of DK are universal, as well as reflect
the ideal way to naturally move and stabilize, they must serve as the perfect
paradigm for all professionals who attempt to train, teach, or coach movement.

All exercises, postures, and patterns can thus be scrutinized by measuring their
mechanics against those utilized in the movement strategies of Developmental
Kinesiology. Once deviations from the ideal patterns are identified, you must now
admit that a compensation is occurring and that you are paying a price by
performing that particular exercise. A colleague and mentor once described to me
what he thought we were actually accomplishing in the rehab community. He said
we were providing our patients with resiliency; that by building up their credit by
facilitating and strengthening all the natural, ideal motor patterns found in DK, we
were giving them the ability to pay the price of performing less than ideal
functional movements that they may perform for sport or recreation. He spoke of
us building up their credit so that they dont go in the red while performing
their habitual, daily routines.
Considering that analogy, one can easily conclude that the rehab continuum must
begin with the ideal movement and stabilization patterns of DK, move through
strength and functional training, and end with sports and recreational
performance. Therefore, it is pyramidal in nature, where the natural patterns of
DK provide the basis and foundation for the functional, strength, and performance
training found at the apex. With this bottom up approach, each level provides
the foundation for the one above, but more importantly illustrates how as you
move up the pyramid, there is a transition from the ideal, natural patterns of DK to
the functional, artificial patterns of sport, recreation, and habit. This transition is
subtle, yet vital, and is the primary reason why you cannot use functional training
or sport performance to facilitate basic stability and motor control. This is the
explanation for why there is a fundamental difference between training and
rehabilitation.
This pyramidal structure shows how we can use the basic movement patterns of
DK to initiate rehabilitation and build up the resiliency reservoir of our patients
musculoskeletal systems, so that they have enough credit to be able to move up
the pyramid, performing more artificial, functional activities, without having to pay
too much of a musculoskeletal cost. Simply put, deviating from the natural, basic
movement patterns that have been defined by DK will inevitably lead to some type
of compensation, and depending on how far you deviate, that compensatory
pattern will cause a combination of muscular, postural, and joint dysfunction.
Understand, I am not saying that you shouldnt perform Olympic lifts or more basic
functional exercises, but I am saying that you need to realize that regardless of how

ideal those exercises seem to be performed, they come at a cost. It is that

musculoskeletal cost which is the reason why you cannot use the Deadlift to train
stability and build up your credit; which is to say that considering the Deadlift a
rehabilitative exercise is simply a category mistake. Because of that cost, you must
weigh the risks versus the benefits of any particular functional exercise or
recreational activity before you choose to personally perform it or suggest it to a
patient/client as a part of their treatment plan.
Taking this model into account, we can now understand that the term, functional,
is only a part of the rehab and exercise continuum, and not the foundation. The
only intelligent way to therefore understand this term is by defining it as the
performance of a particular task in regards to sport, work, performance,
recreation, and habit. This manner of defining function separates it from the basic
movement patterns of DK which can be characterized as natural or ideal and serve
as the grounding for the very functional patterns that your are attempting to train.
Functional movements are specific to a task and typically do not conform to an
ideal pattern, which is why they cannot be used as a basis for rehabilitation, or to
build up your credit. Therefore, you cannot replace stabilization and
rehabilitative training with functional training, since the latter will only lead to
further dysfunction due to the inherent instability of the patterns themselves.
Again though, the point I am attempting to make is subtle, yet vitalfunctional
training is necessary and important, it has an essential role in the rehab continuum,
but it cannot be used as the basis for rehab; it cannot be thought of as a way to
increase the resiliency of your clients and patients.

Just Because We Can, Doesnt Mean We Ought to

I believe that one of the biggest confusions in the rehab and performance industry
is the conflict between what we can do and what we ought to do. It is this
conflict that has allowed a term like functional to replace a more useful term like
natural, and what has clouded our reasoning when it comes to rehabilitation,
corrective exercise, sports performance, and recreational activities. Once we
understand that the tenets of DK provide us with an objective basis for all future
movement and function, only then can we speak intelligently about how we ought
to move and stabilize, versus what we are capable of doing in the realms of
performance, sport, and recreation.

With this rationale in mind, let us examine a common practice in the area of
performance, function, and strength training that when scrutinized under the lens
of DK, is found to be less than optimal in terms of its universality.
At this point, everyone is aware that when performing the typical back squat
exercise, it essential to maintain an arch, or lordosis, in their Lumbar Spine. We
have been informed by every expert on the topic of Lumbar Spine biomechanics
and kinematics that if you attempt to back squat with weight, and continuously
allow your Lumbar Spine to flex during that movement, in time, you will
undoubtedly injure yourself. Therefore, experts in the fields of biomechanics,
performance, and strength training have advocated a movement pattern that has
been colloquially termed, hip hinging. Basically, we have all been taught that when
we squat it is imperative that we move primarily through our hips (hinging) and
that we must not allow any slumping, bending, or flexion to occur in our low backs.
Using this strategy, where our Lumbar Spine remains extended as we lower to the
ground, we can safely perform a variety of squatting exercises, not to mention
functional activities like shoveling snow, without risking injury to the tissue in our
low backs, specifically our discs.
The use of the hip hinge has evolved to become an effective strategy when
attempting to safely back squat, however, you must also understand that it is a
compensatory movement strategy. At approximately 10-12 months of age, infants
begin to move into the squatting pattern. You can see at that time that simply
lowering themselves to the ground (or primarily, standing up from the floor),
typically in order to play with objects on the floor, these children will flex their low
backs, counter-nutate their sacrums, and posteriorly tilt their pelvis as they
approach 90 degrees of hip flexion (parallel with the floor). Particularly, past 90
degrees, the pelvis tucks underneath the body and you can observe a fully
elongated spine. This is a natural phenomenon and a developmental milestone of
DK.
Your Lumbar spine is meant to both flex and extend as you squat, and it is only
when you attempt to perform a functional task like squat with weight on your
back, that you must use an alternate strategy that deviates somewhat from the
ideal. You must see that while it may be of some benefit to use this hinging
mechanism to back squat, due to its ability to decrease injury risk, it is still not
natural nor ideal to always move in this wayit is simply a compensatory scheme

that allows you to safely squat with a load on your back and that is all. Therefore,
to use the hip hinge as the sole rehab strategy, or worse a life strategy, for the low
back is simply irrational, and will most likely lead to more compensation, pain, and
dysfunction. The take home message is simple: hip hinging is a compensatory
strategy for a specific functional movement which differs from the natural pattern,
therefore to universalize it for all patterns is nonsensical.

William Tortoriello, D.C.

*this is an excerpt from a chapter written by William Tortoriello, Chiropractic

Physician and Certified DNS Practitioner, for Dr. Evan Osars upcoming new
textbook on Corrective Exercise Solutions.