Bookshelf: Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman

Our Bookshelf | Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I first read Move Your DNA near the end of chiropractic school, and I'm glad I did. Katy Bowman's book had a significant influence on how I understood the human body and the principles that govern how it functions.

I revisited the book in 2025 and was surprised by how simple many of its ideas seemed the second time around. By then, I'd spent years expanding my knowledge and refining my understanding through clinical experience.

That's not a criticism of the book. Quite the opposite. Bowman does an outstanding job of making a relatively complicated concept accessible to the average reader. And the overarching principle applies to nearly every aspect of human health.

The Big Idea

Bowman's central argument is that natural movement is a biological necessity, and that movement—or the lack thereof—has profound implications for our health.

These effects extend from the big picture, like cardiovascular fitness and musculoskeletal health, all the way down to the cellular level, where mechanical forces influence how our tissues function and adapt.

She also drives home an important distinction: movement and exercise aren't necessarily the same thing.

One of my favorite concepts from the book, which I've shamelessly borrowed countless times, is that movement is a lot like nutrition. A nutritious diet requires an appropriate quantity of calories, but quality and variety matter just as much. If you possessed superhuman willpower, you could theoretically eat 2,000 calories of broccoli every day and nothing else. Broccoli is healthy, but an all-broccoli diet assuredly isn't.

Movement works much the same way. You might exercise for an hour every day, but that doesn't necessarily provide your body with the variety of movements and physical demands it needs.

Exercise is important, but it's only one part of a healthy movement diet.

What Stood Out

One of Bowman's more memorable examples involves captive orcas. Remember Free Willy and his bent dorsal fin? Collapsed dorsal fins are common among captive male orcas but much less common in the wild. The exact reasons aren't fully understood, but differences in movement patterns, time spent at the surface, and mechanical loading may contribute.

Wild orcas travel enormous distances, swim at different speeds and depths, and experience a much more varied physical environment than their captive counterparts.

The example illustrates a fascinating concept: the environment we live in helps determine the physical demands placed on our bodies. This raises a question worth considering:

How big is the tank you're swimming in?

Another interesting discussion involves the relationship between our environment and our eyesight. Nearsightedness, or myopia, has become increasingly common among children. Research suggests that spending more time outdoors can reduce the risk of developing myopia, while prolonged near work may also play a role. The underlying mechanisms are more complicated than simply failing to look at distant objects. In particular, changes in the length of the eyeball and exposure to outdoor light appear important.

Still, the broader idea fits Bowman's message beautifully: our bodies develop and adapt in response to the environments we inhabit.

My Take

I consider Move Your DNA a must-read for anyone working in health and wellness.

It's accessible, engaging, and really hammers home the importance of movement. That's not a bad thing. I hammer that point home with patients every day, and it still doesn't always make it through the skull.

What resonates most with me is the idea of a movement diet.

Think of exercise as a movement supplement. It delivers a concentrated dose of a particular type of activity, and it absolutely has its place, but a truly healthy, "whole-food" movement diet should also include a wide variety of natural movements throughout the day. Walking, carrying, reaching, squatting, climbing, bending, and simply changing positions all expose the body to different physical demands.

Bowman also introduces corrective exercises and movement strategies that are generally simple and approachable. While they won't necessarily be appropriate for every individual, they offer a useful starting point for exploring movement limitations.

Perhaps my favorite practical suggestion is her encouragement to redesign your environment to make movement more natural. Bowman isn't necessarily anti-sitting, and neither am I, but she is very much pro-sitting-on-the-floor.

If you're reading this, give it a try right now.

Can you comfortably get down to the floor, sit in a few different positions, and stand back up again? If you find it challenging, that's useful information. It might also be a good opportunity to practice.

The Bottom Line

Move Your DNA challenges us to reconsider what it means to live an active lifestyle.

Regular exercise is tremendously valuable, but it doesn't necessarily make up for a life otherwise spent in relatively few positions, performing a limited variety of movements.

Our bodies are remarkably adaptable, but that adaptability depends on the demands we place upon them.

You don't need to abandon your desk, throw away your furniture, or spend your days wandering barefoot through the wilderness. You might just need to find a few more opportunities to move.

— Dr. Tyler Garapola, PALM Health Center