A New MOVEment in Physical Therapy (And Your Mind!)
Best Medicine Ep 1 - Joe Kleman on How to Play Your Way Out of Pain
FULL EPISODE:
ABOUT JOE
Recently I had the marvelous chance to talk to Move maker, Joe Kleman. After he got in a motorcycle accident he went through surgery for a broken leg with a hospital that led to a number of issues which forced Joe to figure out his own solutions for physical therapy to aid others going through similar experiences.
Through his experience, Joe discovered that physical therapy ought to be started as soon as possible, and people should be exposed to the proper knowledge of how their body is healing and what’s required to create the best practices to get people moving right again.
After years of practice, Joe came to understand the pitfalls of the industry. Rather than helping patients create lasting solutions, the establishment in physical therapy simply deals in symptom management. People will hurt themselves, then see a PT for some stretches that will relieve pain for a few days (at best). They won’t walk away with real solutions, or any deeper understanding of their body.
Some won’t “walk” away at all - after physical therapy, many people in pain are still unable to walk properly.
Joe describes his goal as precision customized medicine for people through movement therapy, where people can discover what’s best for them and work up to exercises in a way that works with their flow the best.
We discussed different methods of physical therapy, and the best methods for personal healing and growth. His current projects with Move! have been creating systems for people to externalize their mental processes in a way where they understand that there are no wrong answers. Giving freedom to people to figure things out for themselves and remove the personal programming they have in their thought process. Not only a physically liberating endeavor, but a psychologically revolutionary device. Unleashing people from the authoritarian complexes they have become accustomed to.
If you’re interested in learning more about Joe and his modality, MOVE, you can do so here: movetherapy.org/ Joe teaches weekly classes for free on Facebook and his Discord, which I highly encourage checking out!
NO WRONG ASNWERS
If you or I were to go in for a MOVE session with Joe, he would tell us there is only one rule: There are no rules.
Joe is a believer that play and natural/intuitive movement will heal more effectively than the conveyor belt of static stretching and "rehab" exercises. Specifically, the way YOU choose to move, in the moment, uninhibited, will yield the best results.
He will tell you "there are no wrong answers."
I tend to agree.
Our bodies have a natural wisdom - and pains (emotional and physical) can often be "warning signs" more than symptoms.
If you don't listen to a dog when it is begging to go for a walk, it will relieve himself on the carpet.
You can chose to yell "bad boy!" at it, but it turns out your ego-centered desire to control the physical needs and instincts of a beautiful animal are what are ineffective. You tried to tell the dog there was a "wrong answer" and it yielded the result you didn't ldike.
In improv comedy, as I'm told, the path is to say "Yes, and."
Value judgements placed on our natural or creative instinct are what create pain - not the instincts themselves.
The dog wants to relieve himself! Say yes... and that you'd like to play catch with him!
The body's instincts are not wrong answers, because the body's instincts are beyond the realm of value judgements and answers. Our ego is the only thing producing wrong answers. So if you remove your ego from a situation, you might just find your wrong answers disappear with it.