Base-Line theory: How to work with your main muscles of movement.
3. Connect Your Base-Line To Your Upper Body.
Movement of the upper body should begin from the lower trapezius, extending upwards and out towards to the arms and back of the head.
Think extension and expansion, like smoothing out the kinks of a sheet.
- Do you have any connection to your trapezius muscles?
- Can you activate them from midback up? Push your shoulders up from under, not pulling them up from above.
- Can you feel your arms extend out from midline? Your shoulders free to move and rotate?
- Can you let your head relax forwards? Fully, without tension?
The whole of both trapezius muscles should be free to fully extend in all directions, without pain or tension, supporting the head and arms through a full range of movement.
Keeping it simple...
your trapezius muscles
trap-EE-zee-us
The left and right trapezius muscles form the most superficial muscle layer from the back of the head, down the whole length of the neck to mid-back.
They are big, thin muscles, curving down the neck and extending out to the shoulders.
The trapezius muscles have linear attachments to the base of skull.
They meet in middle at the midline bump on the back of your head - the external occipital protuberance.
Feel the back of your skull.
The trapezii (plural) attach to the nuchal ligament, midline at the back of the neck.
Then attaching to the last cervical vertebra, all the thoracic vertebrae (bones of the spine) and the supraspinous ligament to the base of the ribs.
The scapula (shoulder blade) is a strange-shaped bone. The trapezius attaches near the top on the back surface.
The trapezii also attach to the clavicle (collar bone), on the third nearest the shoulder.
Feeling the relative positions of our left and right trapezii connects us to the positioning of the nuchal ligament and the supraspinous ligament on the median plane of the posterior (back) of the body, these are our secondary guides for alignment after the linea alba and our Base-Line muscles.
Bones the trapezius attaches to: The skull, each vertebra from the base of the neck to bottom of the ribcage, the scapula and clavicle of each arm.
Ligaments the trapezius attaches to: The nuchal and supraspinous ligaments, on the median plane - our midline.
Look at the pictures, appreciate the shape and extent of the trapezius muscles.
trapezius in detail.
A sheet covering the neck and back, extending out to each shoulder.
It was a few months into healing before started thinking about my upper body, and it then took a lot of focus to activate my lower trapezius muscles at all. A couple of weeks of trying to send the signals to the right place, imagining I had wings to lift and spread, extending from my Base-Line
My upper body was rigid. My shoulders fixed in a hunch and my neck immobile. I had no idea how badly until I started to heal. From having no connection to the awareness of the crumples,folds, twists and compressions on my body Feeling how to move through the restrictions, slowly regaining my natural range of movement and releasing the tensions I had been carrying around.
Movement should be easy and smooth.