Lying on the couch or the sofa when you are laid up with a headache that radiates like a drone infused Harley Davidson on a narrow street at 4am in the morning is never a great prospect or desire. Combine this with a bone crunching body ache, that renders any attempt at scaling the stairs in your Paddington terrace a glooming epiphany of induced age experiences to come and you can understand what it is to find yourself at the mercy of a summer flu.
So when you are forced to lie down all day and repose in a position that should resemble a Deeta Von Teese cover shoot, only for your bemoaning snuffle, constant cough and ratcheting vocal breathing emanating from your lungs, there are a few things that can present themselves to you.
A lot of issues that come from being in a recumbent position can be traced to some very important causes, and these issues also impact on other perhaps more prominent or apparent issues (for example a bad neck or headache). As I’ve mentioned before, my job is to get to underlying issues or those that are not quite apparent at the outset of pain. It’s often the contributing factors that need to be addressed first to get relief and release from other more obvious conditions.
As such, the spine can be a real source of issues and influence the movement of other parts of the body that do end up suffering from the misalignment ‘from the source’. In dealing with some of my clients recently I have noticed a trend in the some of my CrossFit competitors preparing for a charity event this week. Yes – you know who you are!! {insert evil laugh}. Rotations in the spine that may not appear to be apparent or even hampering to performance can certainly make their presence felt over a longer period of time. Small rotations lead to slight adjustments in ‘accent’ of training particularly when involved with bilateral movements. These movements that involve both sides of the body, usually in a sustained motion, can be subject to issues when rotation occurs in the trunk. Hence looking at the small postural muscles of the spine can sometimes explain why a shoulder girdle or neck issue becomes chronic. Enter the Erector Spinae.
The Erector Spinae group are actually a collection of muscles that run very closely along the lateral groove of the vertebral column. Like a dual lane highway that is separated by a grassy median strip, these muscles are made up of 3 main groups:
· Iliocostalis
· Longissimus
· Spinalis
These three sections are more specifically separated into muscles that traverse the various sections of the spinal column forming bands or fillets of muscle. (see below). As a unit the Erector Spinae varies in its nature, being sharp and pointed at the sacrum, fleshy and fat at the lumbar and long and mainly tendinous in structure at its various insertions on the upper ribs, vertebrae and ligaments at the cranium. They are chiefly concerned with maintaining the postural integrity of individual spinal segments (vertebrae) as well as in spinal ‘rotation’ itself.
The Erector Spinae are what keeps us erect. They act directly on the spine to make tiny adjustments and make our posture correct. So – when I start talking about posture in my interviews and clients begin to ‘sit very upright’(though I often discourage this sort of over-correction, the spine always maintaining a neutral curve) they are directly involving the use of the Erector Spinae group.
Similarly to it’s counterpart (antagonist) the abdominal group, the Erector group are separated laterally along the spinal column, each band of muscle forming it’s own unique belly or ‘head’ of muscle. The innermost fibres make up the Spinalis Group, the intermediate fibres Longissimus and the lateral fibres the Iliocostalis. These three groups are then further separated into sections that correspond to their location and insertion.
· Iliocostalis – lumborum/thoracis/cervicus
· Longissimus –thoracis/cervicus/capitus
· Spinalis – thoracis/cervicus/capitus
Essentially these sections of muscles are all innervated by the same posterior branch of the spinal nerve and so do act as a group to constantly flex and act on the trunk. Individual contractions of sections act directly on various spinal segments and thus can create minor rotational or alignment changes.
This is chiefly as a soft tissue practitioner, I am concerned with. Rotational aspects of the spinal column affect directly how we stand, how straight we sit, how forward our shoulders are and how balanced our head is. It’s like a big JENGA game. If one piece is slightly forward, the rest of the structure must compensate for the ‘tower’ to remain standing.
As a therapist, this is a fundamental principle of maintaining good fundamental position of the spine. As a movement practitioner (yes I have a degree in that) it is even more fundamental to understanding how pure the structure is that you are working with and the base for which all movement springs from. As a remedial worker, it is vital to give your body the best possible chance to achieve optimum form to have the best possible foundation in place. For all these reasons, this is why this grouping of muscles is so vitally important to understand and address.
Much of the Myofascial work that I undertake with many (if not all) of my clients is directly addressing this grouping of muscles. The opening sequence of TUINA movements and palpations that I routinely perform also addresses specific points along this group of muscles. Whilst they are buried beneath other more prominent, broad and powerful ‘movers’ such as the latissimus dorsi or lower trapezius, it is really this group of muscle fillets that I am seeking out to rectify or address small imbalances and issues. Whilst I may not be able to address them immediately, it is often getting past the superficial tension of the aforementioned ‘larger power muscles’ that is paramount so that we can begin to get lasting results from addressing these smaller muscles. No – size isn’t everything!
They are directly linked to the sacrum via the pelvic ligaments and tendons of the thoracolumbar fascia and spine and so are very interconnected to the stability of the other fundamental balancing point of the body – the pelvis. This relates back to other posts that I have written on ‘rotational training’ and keeping the rotational aspect of movement in our routines. This is where some of the yogic postures are so wonderful at keeping these muscles in good condition as they directly target the rotations of the spine in their knot-like poses, coiling and unwinding these very specific muscles.
So to be absolutely sure that your obvious pains and aches are not just isolated issues, looking at the spine and ensuring it is not only ‘curvy’ but laterally ‘liberal’ may be the key to preventing that old shoulder injury, or headache pain from resurfacing when you are doing those handstands against the wall.
Or – from lying down whilst being sick and watching too many episodes of Downton Abbey – if we are being truthfully honest!
