THE ERECTOR SPINAE

I never understood the erector spinae until I saw a lovely plate in Clemente’s Regional Atlas of Human Anatomy. This realistically showed the erectors on the left side and on the right was a line drawing of their routes and attachments to the ribs, spine and head.

They looked like vines climbing up a trellis! AHA!

Just like a plant that’s gotten too heavy for the pot it’s planted in, our forward leaning begins eventually to “up-root” the erectors spinae and their associated thoraco-lumbar fasciae.

So “re-rooting” the erector spinae is a tender action we do as therapists. We are helping the plant be more settled in its container; to be more securely and safely rooted. With the strain of eccentric contraction relieved, these roots can deliver the nourishment the back muscles and their connective tissues so badly need to do their important work. The back needs circulatory refreshment!

Perhaps with this re-rooting of the erectors, the back can be restored as a reliable place, even, dare we say, a place in which we can feel, not strain, but the deep pleasure of healthy movement.

Go back to your roots. Be at home and at peace in your back.

Illustration by Julia Bancroft