The Anatomy of Protective Action: When Completing the Movement Is Not Enough

Protective Actions and Trauma: The Role of Movement Anatomy

How can we explore protective actions in psychotherapy? Discover how whole-body coordination, force production and different ways of moving can broaden the work on Somatic Memories.

Below the video, you’ll find:

• Further insights into the topic.
• A link to download the PDF, with key takeaways, practical guidelines and questions for further exploration.

From Completing a Movement to Discovering New Possibilities

In somatic approaches to trauma, part of the therapeutic work may involve recovering protective actions that were inhibited or interrupted during a difficult experience.

Pushing someone away, creating distance, shielding the face or reaching for support are examples of movements that can take on particular significance when exploring traumatic experiences.

Finally being able to perform a movement that once felt impossible can be a meaningful therapeutic experience. But another question deserves attention: when someone manages to complete a protective action, how is their body organising that movement?

It is not just the visible outcome that can change. Coordination between different parts of the body, the distribution of force, balance and the person’s experience of the action may change too.

1. Not All Pushes Are the Same

Imagine two different ways of performing a pushing movement.

In the first, the movement mainly involves the arms, with limited participation from the rest of the body.

In the second, the push is coordinated with support from the feet, a shift in body weight, movement of the shoulder and trunk, and a rotational component in the arm.

Both are pushes, but the movement is organised differently.

Functional anatomy and movement science help us understand how generating and transmitting force depend on the interaction of several components: shoulder and elbow position, shoulder blade coordination, trunk involvement and support from the lower limbs.

Even small adjustments can change how an action feels and how it is performed.

2. A Clinical Example: When Moving the Arm Away Feels Dangerous

The video describes the case of Anna, a woman who experienced repeated physical assaults during childhood. Whenever she was about to be hit, she instinctively raised her forearm to protect her head.

Many years later, during therapy, Anna could reproduce that movement without difficulty. However, when she was asked to slowly move her arm outwards, away from her head, she stopped.

Her shoulder stiffened, her neck tightened, and opening her arm felt wrong—as though she were exposing herself to danger.

The exploration therefore focused not only on the emotional meaning of the protective response, but also on its physical components: the arm, shoulder, neck, chest and breathing.

With gentle resistance introduced, Anna tried pushing against the therapist’s hand as she breathed out, then gradually releasing the effort and allowing her arm to open outwards.

During this experience, she noticed something new:

“I pushed… but instead of closing in, I’m opening up.”

What mattered was not simply completing the push, but discovering a different way to organise the action: generating force without necessarily having to remain in a closed, protective position.

3. Exploring the Different Components of a Protective Action

This example suggests an avenue for further clinical exploration: rather than simply asking a client to repeat a movement, we can introduce gradual variations and observe what changes.

For example:

• What happens when the movement mainly involves the arms?
• How does it change when the trunk and legs also participate?
• What difference does a slight rotation make?
• Can the person maintain their balance?
• Can they breathe freely during the action?
• Can they deliberately stop the movement halfway through?

These variations allow us to observe not only how physically effective the movement is, but also how the person experiences it.

One version may feel more stable, more controllable or less effortful. Emotions, expectations or the sense of available possibilities associated with the movement may also change. In other cases, no meaningful differences emerge.

An absence of change is useful information too.

4. From Biomechanics to Choice

It is important to clarify that we are not trying to teach clients a biomechanically perfect way to push.

A more physically effective movement does not automatically create a greater sense of psychological safety. The relationship between bodily experience and emotional experience needs to be explored, not assumed.

The clinical interest lies in finding out whether changing a specific component can offer the person new information and new experiences.

In work on Somatic Memories, integrating functional anatomy and movement science broadens what we can observe during therapeutic exploration.

Movement does not replace emotional processing or work on memories. It can, however, become an important part of the experience being explored—and potentially transformed.

The aim is not necessarily to perform a protective action perfectly, but to discover that more than one response is available.

5. Questions for Clinical Practice

When exploring a protective action, it can be helpful to look beyond simply completing the movement:

• In how many different ways can this movement be performed?
• Which parts of the body participate in the action?
• How does the distribution of force change?
• Can the person maintain their balance and breathe freely?
• Can they deliberately stop and resume the movement?
• Which version feels more stable or more controllable?
• Does anything change in their emotional experience or in their expectations of what might happen?

These questions should be adapted to the individual and the therapeutic context, with attention to pacing, consent and the option to stop at any time.

Conclusion: Not One Response, but More Possibilities

Completing a protective movement can be an important step, but it does not necessarily mark the end of the exploration.

Sometimes, the most interesting change is discovering that the same action can be organised in different ways: with greater involvement of the whole body, a different distribution of force, or the freedom to open up, stop and choose.

The question, then, is not only:

“Can this person finally complete the movement?”

We can also ask:

“In how many different ways can they perform it? And what changes when they discover a new possibility?”

Because sometimes the most interesting part of completing a protective movement is discovering that it no longer has to end the same way.

Discover more about Integrative Sciences in the HUB, and explore the topic further with the practical PDF guide.