Motion: The Overlooked Sensory Input
by Larry Shultz, DC
Motion is so fundamental in the scheme of the universe, it is easy to overlook just how essential it is to the developmental process. As a starter, consider the human experience. In utero, the developing fetus is in motion and suspended in a totally fluid medium. Embryologically, the first parts of the nervous system to develop involve tactile and the gravitational relationship mechanisms. For eons, mothers have instinctively used motion by rocking their infants for calming and comfort.
My interest in motion as a developmental sensory input goes back to my childhood. As a young ten year old boy, I was envious of the large swing set being installed in one of our neighbor’s backyard. Interestingly enough, one of the parents made the comment that the swing was being installed not only as a recreational device, but that they believed the swinging motion would have a developmentally positive affect on their children. I didn’t know much about sensory input as a developmental factor at that time, but I did know that swinging back and forth was a lot of fun.
It was later that as a stressed out newly employed college grad, I purchased a fifteen foot sailboat primarily because it was the one activity that allowed me to experience the most welcome calming relief that seemed to come from the gentle rocking of the sailboat. Could there be causal relationship going here? I didn’t know and really didn’t care as long as it worked.
It was as a newly commissioned ensign in the US Navy, that I began to look at this business of motion as a serious form of sensory input. I had made a commitment to myself that no matter what kind of aches, pains, and/or other symptoms that my body experienced, I would in no circumstances go to sickbay. I was going to work it out on my own. Fortunately, I was able to keep that commitment. I spent a lot of my time during that year aboard ship observing what my body was experiencing in relationship to the movement of the ship. Unlike what the other sailors were doing to offset the movement of the ship, I would become part of the ship and go with it. Surprisingly, I experienced relief from a variety of symptoms as a result of relaxing and going with the motion of the ship. I can remember thinking at the time, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could develop a machine that would feel like this ship”. Because of the complex movements involved in the motion produced by the ever-restless ocean, I didn’t give it any further thought.
As a student in chiropractic-college, I was always on the alert to see if motion was ever recognized as a form of therapeutic input. Guess what—NADA!! The one bit of encouragement I got was at a fund-raising auction. Here was a flat table that moved very rapidly in a back and forth and an up and down motion. It had been brought out with a lot of other old and obsolete equipment. I was the only bidder. So for fifteen dollars I bought the first mechanical motion machine that I had seen. It also convinced me that some-one-at-some-time thought that motion could be used therapeutically. After experimenting with it for a while, I finally concluded that it was interesting, but it didn’t do what I wanted it to do. Unfortunately, I eventually dismantled it and used it for any parts that I could use for other purposes.
It was at a chiropractic convention in 1979 that an exhibitor had a motion machine on display. After experiencing for only a few minutes, I walked away with an excitement that I hadn’t experienced in years. Here was a machine that produced a motion that put me in touch with some of the same neuro-physiological feelings that I had experienced while on board ship when I was in the Navy. From that time until the present day, I have in one way or another been involved in experimenting with and developing equipment that produces a motion induced sensory input. Until 1982, when I read “MegaBrain” by Michael Hutchinson, I felt pretty isolated in my search for information on motion. For those of you who are interested, he included an excellent chapter titled “Loop-to-Loop Learning”. Jean Ayres, OT, Ph.D., has also written an interesting book titled “Sensory Integration and Learning Disabilities”.
For those of you who might be interested in experiencing the added effect of motion to the light and sound experience, there are several practitioners who are using this equipment.You can contact Larry Shultz, CEO of Integrative Motion Systems, at 355 North Lantana, #600. Camarillo, CA. 93010. Phone: 805/933-2935. Fax: 805/987-2406. Email: symmetron@earthlink.net
Editor’s note: The first time I saw the Symmetron recliner by Larry Shultz was in the late Rob Robinson’s office at InnerQuest. That was around 1990. I purchased Larry’s IMS bed in 1993 and have been truly amazed by how orbital motion and tactile stimulation can have such a profound effect on people. And how after more than two thousand sessions, the equipment runs just as smooth and responsive as the first time I used it. Yes, this is a plug for IMS / Symmetron technology. Why? Because no one else builds tactile stimulation and motion systems like Larry.
Copyright AVS Journal / Michael Landgraf, Publisher and Larry Schulz, DC, Author. All rights reserved.