<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ok so we could actually call this section Core Muscles since this might be one way of defining the muscles that connect to the spine. </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">BUT </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">This would also depend upon how we define the core muscles &amp; that creates a whole other blog…..!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So to keep it simple; ‘muscles of the spine’ it is!</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Now there are many intricacies to this group of muscles due to the intricacies of the spine, where it is located &amp; its role in movement. Remember according to world leaders, the spine is the centerpiece of locomotion &amp; researches will say that no one muscle or muscle group is more important than another. For optimum spine stabilisation they should all be able to contribute in their role. So let's explore the spine muscles in their layers…..</span>

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<h2><b>Tranversospinalis Group </b></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">(Transversus</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meaning</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ‘</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">turned</span></i> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">across’,</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> &amp; </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Spina</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">meaning</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ‘</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">thorn’)</span></i>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">These muscles are the deepest, with an important role in ‘proprioceptive stabilisation’ as they interlace between the transverse &amp; spinous processes.(those poky out bits).</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">With their short diagonal fibres, they are grouped by the length of their fascicles (from latin, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">fascis</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> meaning ‘</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">bundle</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">’) &amp; also by the region of the spine they cover. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They have a poor mechanical advantage since they do not produce large ranges of motion.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">However they do help to produce unilateral (one side at a time) rotation, lateral flexion &amp; bilateral (both sides at the same time) extension.  </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These are very ‘powerful’ muscles since they engage PRIOR to movement to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">segmentally stabilise</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the spine ready for when we move our torso &amp; limbs. </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">TASK</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For example if you stand up right now…...did you? Yes go on, stand up….now sit down. The first thing we THINK happens is the gross (large) action we produce first, (like that forward lean you did to transfer your weight ready to stand). However to perform a movement the deepest layer MUST have engaged around the spine to maintain stability so that we can actually move with control!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">That’s the role of these lovely muscles...</span>

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<h2><b><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25119" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/shutterstock_1709130394-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="504" height="504" />Multifidus</b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">This word is latin for </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘much or many’</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or ‘</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to split into many parts</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">’. They are the deepest layer of the back &amp; the thickest of this group. With both deep &amp; superficial variations from the sacrum to the axis (C2), PSIS &amp; iliac crest to the spinous processes, this bad boy of the deep muscles looks like a xmas tree when you see the ‘branches’ feed in &amp; up the spine.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">So what?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Well need fully functioning healthy </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">fat free</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Multifidus. Yes MRI scans can show fatty deposits on this muscle if not used enough!! Goods news - movement can reduce this adaptation. Which moves? Just use them often &amp; consistently in a variety of planes! Remember a key part of multifidus’ role is also to take pressure off the discs...well worth keeping them active right!??!?</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-25095" src="https://biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/max-okhrimenko-L3FHnmrPyCI-unsplash-scaled-1.jpg" alt="" width="306" height="459" /> </span>
<h2><b>Rotatores</b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">(or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">rotatores spinae</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">) meaning ‘</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">to rotate</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">’ there are 22 x small quadrilateral (meaning 4 sided) of these muscles in the thoracic region or 11 each side. From those transverse processes that poke out to the side of thoracic vertebrae to the bases of spinous processes that poke out the back &amp; the laminae that is part of the thoracic vertebrae that are 2 levels above. They are also underneath the multifidus. Visually they could be the laces of a corset feeding up the spine...truly beautiful!</span>

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<h2><b>Semispinalis </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">This muscle has roots from the latin word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">semis</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that means ‘half’ &amp; </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">spina</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> meaning ‘thorn’.</span>

<b>Divided into Semispinalis capitis (of the head - I remember this with ‘cap’ like the hat) , Semispinalis cervicis (neck), Semispinalis thoracis (thorax).</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">These lil beauties move between the transverse processes at the side &amp; spinous processes out the back of the thoracic &amp; cervical spine up to the occiput (the back portion of the skull)</span>

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<h2><b>Erecta Spinae group </b></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">This next ‘layer’ are providers of ‘inter segmental stabilisation’ &amp; also ‘co contractors’ with their cousins, on the opposite side, those hip &amp; spine flexors.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">A better mechanical advantage than the previous group based upon their length &amp; leverage. Where multifidus we likened to a xmas tree, the erecta muscle group are more of a poplar tree in their presentation, longer branches.</span>

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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-25096" src="https://biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot-2020-11-30-at-09.38.00.png" alt="" width="334" height="420" />

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">TASK</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For a sense of this group stand up again…. Yup I will get you moving &amp; learning….. now place the pads of your fingers (both hands) either side of your spine, where the erecta muscles live. Now from standing upright feel what they do when you hinge at the hip to lean just a little way forwards.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Did you feel that?? </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They should engage, toughen &amp; bulge a little as they stop your head pulling your upper body forwards into flexion &amp; down with the weight of the skull. Then stand back up...feel them ease off...hinge..stand up ...hinge….stand up…on...off...on….off.. you get the idea??</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Erector spinae</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">could be described as</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">an intermediate group of spine muscles. They extend both sides (bilaterally) &amp; rotates or laterally flexes one side at a time (unilaterally). </span><b>They do this through their relationships, similar to the semispinalis group, with capitis (head), cervicis (neck), thoracis (thorax).</b>

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<h2><b>Longissimus </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">This is obviously the longest one due to its name! To the side (lateral to) of the semispinalis muscles. Travelling from rectus abdominus to the transverse process.</span>
<h2><b>Iliocostalis </b><i> </i></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(ilio - from the ilium costalis - to the ribs)</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> - attaches from the most lateral portion of ribs, to the sacrum, the iliac crest, spinous &amp; transverse processes.</span>
<h2><b>Spinalis</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> </span></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The most medial sibling of the group, splits into spinalis dorsi, spinalis cervicis &amp; spinalis capitis. Travelling into the spinous processes &amp; occiput at the back of the head.</span>

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<h2><b><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25121" src="https://biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_1800824056-scaled-1.jpg" alt="" width="581" height="581" />Quadratus Lumborum </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Like the piriformis in the pelvis, this is possibly the spine’s most infamous muscle. Most practitioners are aware of this lil devil!</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Dropping down from the bottom rib to drape over the iliac crest &amp; then hang across to the transverse processes at the side of L1-4. This much discussed muscle will individually laterally flex the spine &amp; hitch, or lift up, the hip on the same side. Both QL’s working together will also extend the lumbar spine if while sitting you stick your bum out &amp; tip your pelvis forwards or anteriorly. QL also has a really important job working on the opposite side with its cousins TFL &amp; Glute Medius/ Minimus - yup those hip abductors. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">How?</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">TASK</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Ok stand up again….yes move again! ;)</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Place your right hand on the right side of your waist to imagine QL, then place your left hand onto the outside of your left hip to imagine TFL/Glute med/min. Now ‘lift’ your right hip…….this ‘hip hitch’ is the action we use when walking. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Imagine if your client’s QL, TFL or Glute Med/min are inhibited in any way…...how will their body compensate to enable them to walk? What could we do to identify &amp; improve the function of these areas?</span>

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<img class="aligncenter wp-image-25099" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/shutterstock_1544639351-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="427" height="570" />
<h2><b>The Abdominals!</b></h2>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">This group is often considered ‘the core’ by clients since their focus is on the front &amp; sides of their torso or the parts they can see.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">They all dream of a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">6 pack stomach </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">&amp; see adverts about how they can get one in 12 weeks or even 6 weeks or if they follow someone with abs showing on instagram. You can even download an app that superimposes abs onto your photo….for goodness sake!!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The ‘abs’ are written about in magazines as an area to focus on when considering strengthening the core </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">for that washboard abs look! </span></i>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">We should understand them better anatomically to understand how to ‘condition’ them for function &amp; therefore result in whatever is achievable realistically in terms of aesthetics. </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Any hoo... we all have a 6 pack...underneath the skin &amp; they have an important job to do!</span>

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<h2><b>Rectus abdominus </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Rectus means</span> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">straight </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">&amp; abdominis relating to the abdomen. Now this could logically be classified as a core muscle. However when looking at its attachments it does not actually attach directly to the spine but instead to the pubic symphysis (behind the pubes), to the xiphoid process (bottom of the sternum) &amp; the costal cartilages of ribs 5-7. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Generally considered as a flexor of the spine (&amp; of course it will flex the spine) however its main purpose is probably to act as part of the ‘hydraulic amplifier’ mechanism. This is where Transverse Abdominis (TA) &amp; the thoraco-lumbar fascia create tension to stabilise the spine when performing tasks that require spinal stability. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The tendinous junctions of rectus abdominis are designed to help mitigate the lateral forces created by the TA contraction and help with the efficiency of the amplifier. (FANTASTIC BOOK -</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Spinal Engine, Gracovetsky, March 1989</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">).</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25123" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_1544641526-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="436" height="581" />The Oblique Non-identical Twins (I LOVE the obliques) are considering lateral flexors &amp; again they do assist this action however their role is far more important than that when you study their fibres &amp; the lines of pull they are capable of with the attachments they cling onto….</span>

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<h2><b>Internal obliques </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">This layer travels from the front (</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anterior) of the iliac crest, lateral half of inguinal (of the groin) ligament, to the thoracolumbar fascia (big diamond shaped fascial sheet on the lower back) onto the costal cartilages of ribs 8-12; Also via the abdominal aponeurosis to the linea alba (the fascial line down the middle of the tummy of the middle of that 6 pack!)</span>
<h2><b>External obliques </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">External surfaces of ribs 5-12. ... At the midclavicular (middle of the clavicle) line medially &amp; spinoumbilical line inferiorly, external abdominal oblique continues as an aponeurosis via which it inserts to the linea alba, pubic tubercle &amp; anterior half of iliac crest.</span>

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<h2><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25125" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_1666655449-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="607" height="607" /></h2>
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<img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25124" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_1666658332-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="608" height="608" />
<h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Transverse Abdominis (TVA) </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">(or unmoving point) of the TA muscles is on the costal (rib) margin, iliac crest, &amp; inguinal ligament. The insertion (or moveable piece) of the TA muscles is located on the xiphoid process, symphysis pubis, &amp; linea alba….hopefully by now we are starting to remember some of these terminologies! </span>

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<h2><b><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25126" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_1544641502-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="391" height="522" />Hip flexors  </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;"> see pelvis <a href="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/pelvic-hip-biomechanics-part-1-the-muscles-of-the-hip/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CLICK HERE</a></span>

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<h2><b>Diaphragm </b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Greek word <em>diaphragma</em> meaning partition or barrier. Primarily it is attached to the sternum at the xiphoid process, the lower six ribs &amp; the spaces in between, also the lower part of the spine. ... The spinal attachment is in the upper lumbar section. The diaphragm's insertion point is called the central tendon.</span>

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<h1><b><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-25127" src="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/shutterstock_303082082-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="387" height="516" />Interesting facts </b></h1>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">No one muscle, or muscle group, is more important than any other.  Many will talk of Transverse Abdominis (TVA or TA) &amp; Multifidus as the most important muscles in the core, but if only one group or muscle of the full range of stability muscles is not functioning correctly, then the trunk is unstable.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">
</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cholwewicki and McGill, 1996, O’Sullivan et al, 1997, 1998, Allison et al, 1998)</span></i>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Trunk or core stability in motion should be a reflex reaction as opposed to a conscious effort….like core stability training.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">The core muscles are often inhibited in cases of low back pain.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Psoas Major &amp; also Latissimus Dorsi could (&amp; probably should) be deemed ‘core’ muscles based on their involvement in trunk/spine stability &amp; connecting the upper &amp; lower body</span>

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<h1><a href="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/product/pelvic-biomechanics-practical-anatomy-part-1-the-bones-muscles-actions/#tab-description" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Would you like to invest in your learning by gaining access to an online CPD about Pelvic Biomechanics - The Bones, Actions &amp; Muscles?&lt;&lt;Just Click Here</a></h1>