We usually talk about exercise in terms of workouts, calories, fitness goals or sport.
Herbert M. Shelton approached movement from a broader biological perspective. In 1935 he devoted an entire volume of The Hygienic System to a subject he called Orthokinesiology.
The word has almost disappeared, but the idea behind it remains important: movement is not an optional extra added to health. It is one of the normal requirements of a living human organism.
What is Orthokinesiology?
In Shelton’s Hygienic System, Orthokinesiology dealt with exercise, physical education, movement, posture, strength, endurance and corrective exercise. His 1935 volume was later reissued under the much simpler title Exercise.
Its place in Shelton’s system makes more sense when we look at the terminology surrounding it. Bionomy concerned the laws and functions of life. Orthobionomics concerned living in accordance with those biological requirements. Orthotrophy dealt with correct feeding. Orthokinesiology dealt with the body’s requirement for appropriate movement.
Exercise is not the same thing as work
One of the revealing chapter titles in Shelton’s Orthokinesiology is Exercise Versus Work.
That distinction still matters. A person may spend an exhausting day working without necessarily giving the body balanced movement. Repeating the same actions, sitting for long periods, standing in one position or overusing particular muscles can create fatigue without developing the body evenly.
Exercise, in the Hygienic sense, should develop capacity rather than simply consume energy.
Movement changes the whole organism
Muscles do not operate in isolation. Movement changes circulation, breathing, lymphatic movement, joint loading, balance, coordination and the demands placed upon the nervous system.
This is why movement belongs naturally within the Natural Hygiene framework. The body’s systems are interconnected, and physical activity changes the conditions under which those systems operate.
Shelton’s book included a substantial section on the physiology of exercise, reflecting his view that movement should be understood as a biological requirement rather than merely a way to change appearance.
Strength without exhaustion
Natural Hygiene does not treat exhaustion as evidence that exercise was successful.
Exercise requires energy. Recovery requires energy too. Continually demanding more from the body than it can recover from is not the same as progressively developing strength and capacity.
This fits the wider Hygienic principle of avoiding unnecessary enervation — the depletion of functional capacity through excessive demands.
The appropriate amount of movement therefore depends upon the individual, their present condition, their level of adaptation and their capacity to recover.
Posture and structural balance
Orthokinesiology was not simply a book about becoming fitter. Shelton devoted considerable attention to posture and structural development.
Its subjects included developing the body, strengthening regions of the spinal column, training for posture, deformities of the neck and shoulders, the chest and spine, and problems involving the feet and legs.
This reflects an obvious biological reality: the way we repeatedly use the body influences the body.
Muscles adapt to demands. Coordination improves through use. Capacity can increase progressively. Conversely, prolonged inactivity removes many of the demands to which the human body is adapted.
Movement throughout life
Shelton’s treatment of exercise was unusually broad. The contents of Orthokinesiology included physical education in schools, gymnastics for children, play, physical education for women, athletics, endurance, weight training and exercise for people who were unwell.
That breadth is important because movement is not something humans suddenly require when they join a gym.
Children move naturally through play. Adults walk, lift, carry, climb, reach, balance, run and perform countless other movements when their environment permits it. The modern separation of ‘exercise’ from ordinary life is relatively unusual.
The body adapts to what we ask of it
A central principle behind physical training is adaptation.
Ask the body regularly to perform an appropriate physical task and it responds by becoming better able to meet that demand. Stop making a demand for long enough and capacity can diminish.
This is a perfect example of the ideas explored in Orthobionomics. The organism is continually responding to its environment and to the demands placed upon it.
Exercise cannot replace the other conditions of health
There is another important lesson in placing Orthokinesiology inside Shelton’s wider Hygienic System.
Exercise is only one requirement.
It cannot compensate indefinitely for inadequate sleep, unsuitable food, chronic overstimulation, lack of rest or other persistent strains on the organism.
Likewise, an excellent diet does not remove the body’s need for movement. Rest does not remove it. Sunlight does not remove it.
Natural Hygiene is powerful precisely because it considers these requirements together rather than searching for a single health intervention.
Movement during recovery
Shelton also discussed what he called corrective exercise and the application of gymnastics for people who were unwell.
The underlying principle requires judgement: the body needs movement, but the body’s capacity at a particular moment matters.
During periods of profound fatigue or acute illness, rest may temporarily take priority. As strength returns, appropriate movement can again become part of normal living.
This illustrates a broader Natural Hygiene principle: biological needs are not fulfilled by rigidly applying the same behaviour regardless of circumstances. The body’s present condition matters.
Movement as a biological need
Perhaps the most useful thing about rediscovering the word Orthokinesiology is that it changes how we frame exercise.
Movement is not punishment for eating. It is not simply a method of burning calories. It is not exclusively for athletes and it does not have to happen inside a gym.
Movement is part of being human.
Walking, climbing, stretching, carrying, playing, balancing and using the body in varied ways provide demands to which human physiology responds.
From the Natural Hygiene perspective, the aim is not to force the body endlessly. It is to provide appropriate conditions and appropriate demands so that normal capacity can develop and be maintained.
The forgotten language of Natural Hygiene
Orthokinesiology is the fourth concept in our exploration of the forgotten language used within Natural Hygiene.
- Biogony — Shelton’s term for remedial physiological activity during disease.
- Orthobionomics — living in accordance with the biological requirements of life.
- Bionomy — the study of the laws and functions of life.
- Orthotrophy — correct feeding within the Hygienic framework.
Historical source
Herbert M. Shelton published The Hygienic System, Volume IV: Orthokinesiology in 1935. A second edition appeared in 1956, and the work was later reissued under the title Exercise. Its subjects ranged from the physiology and philosophy of exercise to strength, endurance, posture, physical education and corrective exercise.
Nearly a century later, the title is obscure. The principle behind it is not: a living body requires appropriate movement.