The Deep Muscles of the Spine
Transcript
00:00If you like pumpkin spice as much as I like pumpkin spice,
00:03grab yourself a tin of Bodyworkers Brew before it disappears
00:06because that would be terrifying.
00:12Today I'm diving into the deeper muscles of the spine
00:15and I want to focus specifically on the transversospinellus group
00:18which are the semispinellus, the rotators, and the multifidi.
00:21Because these are really deep muscles though, I want to start off by
00:24warming up the erector spinae group which are more superficial
00:27and a little bit lateral. So I'm really spending a lot of time
00:30warming up these more superficial muscles and pushing them away
00:33so that I can do the deeper work down into the lamina groove
00:36between the spinous processes and the transverse processes
00:39which is where the transversospinellus muscles live.
00:42A couple of things to note right off the bat, these muscles can be
00:46tender and sometimes ticklish. So I'm warming up
00:49the erectors in a lighter way and I'm rolling over them pretty fast
00:52which creates a little bit more friction than it does
00:55compression and what I want to do is distract my client away from
00:58anything that feels uncomfortable. So I'm using one hand to brace down
01:01through the sacrum and the hips and using my other hand
01:04to create that warmth and to loosen up all these muscles as I work
01:07up the spine towards the neck. Mechanically speaking, I'm standing
01:10on the opposite side of the table than I'm working and I often
01:13do this for demo purposes for the video, but in this case
01:16this is actually what I do. I will stand on the opposite side
01:19because pushing is easier than pulling and
01:22with these muscles, I want to move them away from the spine so that
01:25I have more space within that tiny lamina groove
01:28and this is the position that works best for me.
01:31For good measure, I'm throwing in a couple of contralateral stretches
01:34and myofascial pulls, holding on one hip while providing
01:37traction into the opposite shoulder and vice versa
01:40switching sides. Doing this is just going to help open up
01:43the spine a little bit more, not only lengthwise but also
01:46in rotation so that when I dive in, my work can be a lot more detailed.
01:49I'm revisiting some of that work into the erector spinae group
01:52not to be boring, but to make sure that all of the muscles
01:55that are really articulating with the ribs and the spine
01:58are loose enough so that when I dive deep into the lamina groove
02:01I can get to the level to which I need to work.
02:04Okay, so here is the lamina groove
02:07and obviously there's one on either side of the spine
02:10so you want to make sure you know where the spinous processes are
02:13and work just lateral to those.
02:16It's going to be more obvious on some clients than others
02:19for example with football players, their erector spinae are so
02:22strong that they pop out and create a deeper chasm where the lamina groove is
02:25but for palpation's sake, find the spinous processes
02:28sink just lateral to those
02:31and your intention should go down towards the table
02:34and then away from the spine.
02:37So this work is really about posture issues and I have more to say about that
02:40in a little bit, but for the most part you want to work up and down
02:43the back and stay in communication with your client about
02:46where they are feeling any tension, any tightness and make sure that you
02:49follow this group of muscles all the way from the sacrum
02:52up into the neck because although these are actually individual
02:55little muscles, they do work in unison and
02:58as a team. With all of this work you want to try to
03:01create attraction with one hand when you can and do the work
03:04with your other hand because the spine has a tendency to become
03:07compressed and a lot of your focus is going to be to
03:10create length and to create space. Whether or not you work
03:13from sacrum to skull or skull to sacrum is up to you
03:16there's advantages to both. For this technique I'm
03:19using one hand on the opposite side of the spine that I'm working
03:22to create attraction and I'm using my thumb
03:25to work down the spine inferiorly along
03:28each of the muscles between the spinous processes and the transverse
03:31processes. You can do this with the thumb or with your
03:34fingers like I'm doing now, just opening up
03:37and creating a compression into the tops of these little
03:40muscles and pushing down towards the sacrum. Depending
03:43on what your client needs and what their issues are, either
03:46direction can be advantageous.
03:49And just
03:52for repetition's sake, it's okay to repeat a technique over
03:55and over. It allows the client to know what's coming and relax
03:58into your work. So as one vertebrae follows another
04:01and one muscle follows another, so can your techniques.
04:04As I make my way down into the low back, I want to
04:07create a little space. So I'm using my left hand here to sink
04:10into the SI joint and using my right hand to create
04:13length throughout the lumbar spine and my focus is
04:16really about the fact that the multifidi muscle actually comes
04:19down and lays flat on the sacrum. So I don't want to forget
04:22that connection and acknowledge the sacrum's important role
04:25in how these muscles act. These tiny little muscles are given the
04:28big role of posture, so extension of the spine
04:31very specifically. And I want to use that knowledge to my advantage.
04:34Only it's pretty hard to make a client extend their spine
04:37while they're laying prone on the table. So instead of having them
04:40lift their whole back up, I just want to create a little activation
04:43in the lower spine. I'm asking her to
04:46channel her inner Beyonce and arch her
04:49low back a little bit. And when she does that, those muscles
04:52are activated. So as I sink in against that
04:55contraction and then she lets go, I'm able to sink down a little bit
04:58deeper and get down into that lamina groove and create a
05:01significant shift. You can do this working your way up through the
05:04thoracic spine, but obviously as you move up, the actions
05:07that your client is doing has to shift a little bit. So just
05:10ask her to lift her back slightly up towards the ceiling.
05:13None of this needs to be big. The only thing that needs to happen
05:16is that the contractile fibers need to be fired.
05:19And once that happens, the action potential has been reached
05:22so that when she relaxes, that dip in relaxation is
05:25the moment that you sink deeper. I don't know if you noticed, but I shifted
05:28my intention of compression, which can make a huge difference.
05:31It doesn't look like much maybe on the screen,
05:34but I'm now working intentionally inferiorly
05:37as opposed to working superiorly. And the difference is
05:40this. When I'm pushing up, I'm sinking into the bottom
05:43surfaces of each of those little muscles. And when I'm pushing
05:46down, I'm sinking into the top surfaces of each of those muscles.
05:49So if you guys have watched my channel, you know that
05:52I like to be really thorough around every single muscle
05:55that I work, and this is no different. A quick tip to add
05:58to your expertise, if you use one hand to apply a resistance
06:01on the sacrum, that contraction is going to be a little bit stronger and they're
06:04going to have a better idea of exactly what to do. To elaborate on this,
06:07I'm using my left hand, my fingers, and my thumb
06:10to sink in on either side of the sacrum into the SI joint.
06:13And as she contracts, I'm sinking down towards the table
06:16and out away from her and slightly up
06:19towards her shoulder. Lots of directions happening here.
06:22Compressing into that muscle, and then when she relaxes,
06:25working through that muscle up superiorly and creating space,
06:28opening up the lamina groove, and helping these muscles to let go.
06:37I'm about to bring my client's arm up off the table
06:40near her head, and I do that for a couple of reasons.
06:43Number one, it opens up the low back a little bit more.
06:46Number two, I'm going to have her activate her shoulder.
06:49So as my client lifts her arm up away from the floor, a whole
06:52chain of events is happening. There's an activation of muscles
06:55around the shoulder that are enabling this movement to happen,
06:58but there's also a stabilization happening in the back, and these are
07:01the muscles that I'm targeting. So as she lifts her arm up,
07:04I'm using one hand to stabilize the hip and the other hand
07:07to slide up into those muscles, asking them to activate while
07:10introducing length at the same time.
07:13Reversing the action I did previously, I'm going to guide my client
07:16into a posterior pelvic tilt. So instead of engaging
07:19the muscles that bring the spine into extension,
07:22I'm engaging the antagonistic muscles of the abdominals, which is going
07:25to lengthen and relax the muscles of the posterior spine.
07:28I'm employing a similar technique, but the engagement of her abdominals
07:31creates a different effect. So if I ask my client
07:34to bring her pelvis into an anterior pelvic tilt like we did
07:37before, getting those muscles to engage and then resetting
07:40them as they relax is going to help muscles that are stuck
07:43or adhered, whereas this technique might be more advantageous
07:46to use for somebody who's got a strain or an overuse
07:49injury where the muscles are a little more tender and need guidance
07:52into length. This can be equally beneficial into the SI
07:55joint and the QL because those are two areas that are pretty
07:58chronically compressed in general.
08:01If your client's having a hard time creating an
08:04anterior and or a posterior pelvic tilt,
08:07a good idea is just to take the bolster out from underneath their ankles.
08:10That's going to lengthen the legs a little bit, bring the pelvis down
08:13and help the back to open up. This is a subtle difference, but one
08:16that plays into posture itself. So the minor adjustment
08:19of straightening the knees is going to lengthen the hamstrings, which is going
08:22to tilt the pelvis slightly posteriorly, and you can
08:25use this moment to talk to your client about how they sit or stand
08:28that might be helpful to them.
08:32I've just created a lot of length and space
08:35in the spine, and one of the best ways to reinforce this is to
08:38walk down to the ankles and apply traction into the legs.
08:41And because I think repetition is so important to learning
08:44in general, I'm going to have my client repeat the action of a posterior
08:47pelvic tilt as I apply a resistance, and then when
08:50she's done, reinforce that work up into her spine.
08:53Again, coming down to the ankle, applying a resisted
08:56traction, having her create an anterior pelvic tilt,
08:59a little more traction when she releases that activation,
09:02and then setting everything into place.
09:05The other handy dandy trick you have up your sleeve
09:08is a pillow. Placing a pillow under your client's hips and the
09:11abdomen is going to turn their lower thoracic and lumbar region
09:14from a concave space to a more neutral space.
09:17I've done a lot of work from sacrum to skull and from skull to sacrum,
09:20but I'm going to switch it up and move a little more laterally
09:23and create a little more friction. Kind of like opening up
09:26one side of an accordion, placing the bolster under my client's abdomen
09:29has created a lot of space between the spinous processes
09:32and therefore some space between the transverse processes
09:35as well. So my ability to sink into the lamina groove
09:38has increased with this position, and I want to take advantage
09:41of that and do really detailed work into these tiny muscles.
09:44I'm using one hand to support the other and I'm drawing
09:47tiny little circles up the lamina groove until I find something
09:50that I think is significant. My rule of thumb when this happens
09:53is if I find something, I always want to check in with my client
09:56because there are often times where I can find something
09:59that feels significant, but my client will feel nothing.
10:02And what I really want to address is pain.
10:05There's lots of things that feel different or unique
10:08and I don't want to do a lot of work on something that may not be
10:11quote unquote normal, but is normal for my client.
10:14If I do find something that is significant for my client,
10:17one of the main ways this can show up for the transversospinalis group
10:20is to feel like a limitation in what the ribs can do
10:23or the ability to take a deep breath in.
10:26These tiny little muscles can have a deep impact into how
10:29the thoracic cavity moves in general.
10:32It's because of this that I want to take advantage of some breath work.
10:35So I'm going to have my client breathe into her low back
10:38using her QL to pull her ribs down towards her hips,
10:41and then I want to have her breathe into her ribcage,
10:44pulling her ribcage out laterally. These are two different breaths
10:47with different tensions, but all play a role with how the paraspinals interact.
10:50While I'm down in the lumbar aspect of the lamina groove,
10:53I'm going to have her take that deep breath into her lower back.
10:56As she breathes in, I can feel those muscles get longer
10:59and more taut, and as she exhales, I can feel them soften
11:02and this is when I want to sink in.
11:05I want to remind her that when she exhales, that she can deflate
11:08all the way out, and this is an extra step to take when working with breath
11:11that can raise a lot of self-awareness around how deep
11:14or shallow your client might be breathing in general.
11:17As I move up into the lower thoracic spine, I want to ask her to take that breath
11:20into her lateral ribcage. So remembering that the ribs
11:23articulate with the transverse processes,
11:26there is an important role that the ribs play into how these tiny muscles
11:29of the spine are going to act or not act.
11:32I can also create a contralateral distraction into the hips, so I'm using
11:35my left elbow to sink into her right hip while I work on the
11:38left side of the spine, but what I'm constantly doing is reminding her
11:41that posture is not just about sitting up straight.
11:44It's about what the hips do, it's about what the ribs do, and it's about
11:47how the legs act. So in this last technique,
11:50as I sink into these muscles of the lamina groove, I'm asking her
11:53to bring her intention towards her knees and visualize
11:56bringing her knees up towards her chest. So she's not
11:59really doing it, she's not physically able to do it as she's laying
12:02in this position, but if she slightly activates these muscles
12:05with just the intention, all of the muscles of the spine
12:08are going to act as stabilizers, and that's the bigger picture
12:11awareness I want her to get. Posture is not just about the back,
12:14but how the body moves as a whole. Thanks for watching, you guys.
12:17I've got a part two of this video with some pretty cool
12:20side-lying and supine techniques coming up, but for now
12:23I just want to say a quick thank you to all my Patreon supporters.
12:26Your contributions make all of this work possible.
12:29If you're interested in heading over to my Patreon page for
12:32extra clips and deeper content, please click on the link
12:35in the description below.