A system isn’t some randomly organized thing. It is an interconnected set of things that are designed and linked in a way that allows the system to achieve something purposeful. If you look at a system closely you find that it has three key components: elements (the parts), interconnections (the links), and a function or purpose (the reasons for the system).
No matter the system, there is inherent difficulty diagnosing and solving problems. The more complicated the system, the more trouble and time involved in finding the solution. Consider your car as a system. In order for it to function — that is, drive forward— a myriad of working parts, need to come together. The gas pedal needs to send a signal so the appropriate amount of fuel fires the engine. Correspondingly, the steering wheel must remain connected to the wheels in order for the car to move in the right direction. Lastly, a battery powers the entire system, allowing it to operate. If a car is not moving, the immediate assumption might be an issue with the principal source of movement, the gasoline. But, as a system with interworking parts, the issue could lie in many different places.
Likewise, the human body — an infinitely more complicated system — operates under the same principle. Remember the children’s song, Dem Bones: the hip bones connected to the back bone… As an integrated system, multiple muscles spanning the length and width of a body operate in harmony to create functional movement. The skeletal system components (bones) are connected to each other through joints, which create links between regions. These links are tethered by ligaments and long bands of tissue called fascia. The body is powered and connected electrically by the nervous system. Dysfunction and pain in one area, therefore, does not mean the underlying issue exists in that same area.
Regional Interdependence
The human body is connected in many ways, both obvious and subtle. Understanding this concept is a central tenet in effective therapy. In short, this principle is known as regional interdependence; it is the notion that seemingly unrelated impairments in an isolated anatomical region may contribute to, be associated with, or even be the cause of a patient’s initial complaint.
In other words, the body is connected. To diagnose and treat impairment, the therapist and patient must also be connected. As C.S. Lewis famously said, “The magic is not in the medicine but in the patient’s body. What the treatment does is stimulate Nature’s functions in the body, or to remove hindrances.” In a sense, though we speak of healing a cut, every cut heals itself; no dressing will make skin grow over a cut on a corpse.”
The treatment is only as effective as the approach stays connected to these principles. For this reason, being connected is imperative, between not only practitioner and patient, but between a patient and her body.