The Small Intestine (Gut) and the Kinetic Chain
The gut houses probiotic organisms. These bacteria help us as part of our digestive process. Over 85% of nutrient absorption occurs in the gut, largely as a function of probiotic metabolism. Probiotics, in concert with the enteric nervous system – the nervous system located within the small intestine – also create most of our immune system.
The amount of insult or stress one can adapt to is primarily dictated by immunity. Resistance to disease, such as CORONA-virus, is primarily dictated by immunity. Ability to repair damaged tissue is primarily dictated by immunity. Because of those facts, the amount of progress you can make as an athlete, or the amount you can recover from trauma, is primarily dictated by immunity, and is a function of the health of your gut.
Probiotic flora also create neurotransmitters. These brain chemical messengers are the currency of all action in the human body. Neurotransmitters control autonomic activity, such as heart rate and respiration, but they also control somatic action, such as walking, running, sprinting, throwing, punching… you get the idea.
The planes created by fascia form a 3-D web of tissue which connects all the organs to form a synchronous network. The small intestine is – like all other organs – embedded in this tissue. The enteric nervous system monitors the length-tension relationships of the fascial web, much like a three-dimensional network of cup and string telephones.
These length-tension relationships are translated in kinetic terms to range of motion of tissue and joints (length), and capacity of those tissues and joints to produce force (tension) at any range of motion.
When the enteric nervous system senses movement dysfunction in the fascial system, it protects the kinetic chain by lowering the population of probiotic organisms in the gut. Doing so lowers the relative supply of neurotransmitters, thus stifling action.