KMI Session #2 - The Superficial Back Line

I went for my second KMI session with Angela at Structural Balance last week. This is the first chance I have had to update my blog and write about the session.

According to the Anatomy Trains KMI 'recipe' - Session 2 aims to "Open the Superficial Back Line and differentiate the Superficial Back and Deep Back Arm lines from axial body" I am intending to do some more detailed posts on these fascial planes as defined by Thomas Myers' Anatomy Trains, but for now, and just to summarise, this is an extract straight from The Book....(Anatomy Trains)

Overview:

"The Superficial Back Line (SBL) connects and protects the entire posterior surface of the body like a carapace from the bottom of the foot to the top of the head in two pieces - toes to knees, and knees to brow. When the knees are extended, as in standing, the SBL functions as one continuous line of integrated fascia." - Thomas Myers - Anatomy Trains

The goals of session 2 are as follows....

-Deepen the touch into the heavy fascia and endurance fibres of the posterior musculature
-Improve grounding, bringing the client into their legs and feet.
-Bring initial balance to primary and secondary curves
-In general, drop the Superficial Back Line and even the tonus of the Back Arm Lines

These are the 'prescribed' goals for session 2, but as Thomas Myers also states, 'each session differs in emphasis, method and order depending on the client's individual pattern.......' So it is down to the KMI practitioner (Angela) to determine the exact focus of the session based on her observations from visually assessing and manually working on my body.

The session started how session #1 finished, with a wonderful piece of manual therapy to release my spine. Starting at the top of my C Spine (neck), with me in a seated position, Angela positioned herself above me from behind and instructed me to curl myself forward, starting with my head and slowly curving down through each vertebra, gradually lowering myself down towards the floor as I curled. She followed my movement with her hands running down either side of my spine until I was bent over towards the floor. Come back up and repeat! This is just such a wonderful, wonderful thing to experience in itself!

Then she moved onto my feet. She started off with me lying on my back on the table while she did her thing and worked her magic on the undeside  of my feet. Remember this session is The Back Line, so she was working the base of my feet this time. The previous session focussing on The Front Line, she worked the top side of my feet.

As before, Angela instructed me to make subtle movements with my toes at first and then flexing/extending my ankles as she manipulated my fascia. My 'plantar fascia' in this case, which makes up a just small part of The Superficial Back Line. Plantar fasciaitus is a very common diagnosis for foot pain and disorders, often treated by therapists in isolation at the feet and calves. But bear in mind that if you suffer restrictions and dysfunction further up The Superficial Back line, these could well be the root cause of the problems in the feet, so maybe restrictions and tightness in and around the hips for example. Treating plantar fasciaitus in isolation at the source of pain might bring temporary relieve, but if you don't address the hip imbalances first, then very likely, the foot pain will just come back.

Unsurprisingly to me, I had very little movement in my feet. But Angela seemed quite surprised at just quite how 'stuck' everything was. 'I'm going to need to get you on your feet so I can use your body weight to help me get into the fascia'....so having loosened up my feet a bit with me on the table, she then had me stand. She did a quick and very subtle movement assessment to assess the movement in my feet, looking at how my feet pronate (foot rolling in) and supinate (foot rolling out), as I rotated to the left and right through my chest.

A quick thought on pronation and supination while I am talking about the topic......In the running world, you often hear of these terms in the context of running gait; 'over pronation' (rolling your foot in when running) and 'under pronation', or supination (rolling the  foot out). You can buy specially designed foot wear and orthotic insoles to help minimise these compensations and prevent injury when running. Many running shops will do a gate analysis and tell you which type of expensive trainers you should buy for your specific gait. I think on Wiggle you can even sort trainers into these categories for over/under pronation and then for neutral runners (actually how we should all be running). This just seems like a really flawed logic and solution to me now......In my mind, it encourages people to continue running with significant bio mechanical dysfunction, which hugely increases injury risk and running discomfort later on down the road (literally), and will just compound the dysfunction as the body/brain (it's all to do neuromuscular association) is not taught any other way.

Running is a very high impact activity putting a lot of pressure through our joints, and if we are not properly aligned (structurally integrated), then the forces subjected on the joints are even greater. That is why risk of injury is that much higher when running with compensations. I've been through this myself with an osteopath a while back when I was suffering with 'shin splints' from running. I didn't really know anything about this topic back then and was just told that I 'over pronate' and should buy such and such trainers because of it. There was no discussion around WHY I over pronate!!! I wish now that I had asked, mostly because I am curious what the answer would have been. But as this is what a professional was telling me, I went home and spent quite a lot of money on a new pair of trainers for 'over pronators'. But what I can't understand now is .......why not address the root cause of the dysfunction, instead of just compensating for it? Why take a course of action such as buying new trainers or insoles for example, instead of addressing the root cause of the dysfunction and asking 'why do I over or over pronate??'. In my mind, it is a huge injustice to runners! Anyway....back to the KMI.......

So as I was standing and rotating left to right from my chest, she observed that my right foot was more 'stuck' than my left and with that in mind, she went to work on my feet again, instructing me to keep the rotation of my torso from left to right while she worked. I was literally standing on her hands as she worked my feet.

As she worked on the lateral borders of my feet, she explained that she was deviating off the Back Line and was working into my Lateral Line as well today. Opening up the Lateral Line is actually session #3, but as I mentioned above, quoting straight out of the book....'each session differs in emphasis, method and order depending on the client's individual pattern.......'

After she had finished working her magic on my feet, more work on the right foot than left, she had me repeat the basic bilateral movement assessment, rotating left to right again through the chest. I could feel the difference straight away, my feet were allowed to move with me as I rotated my chest from left to right. I could feel it and see it when I looked down at my feet as I moved from left to right. Previously, there has been very little supination in my feet, especially the right foot, as I rotated. But now, I could see it moving with me as I rotated. Amazing!!

She kept me on my feet for a bit, putting me into a unilateral (staggered stance) calf stretch facing and leaning into the wall on my palms, arms outstretched at chest height. While she worked my calves, she had me raise up onto the ball of my feet on my outstretched leg, then lower back down again. This subtle movement creates additional activation of the tissue fibres as she releases them with her hands. As with the previous session, the touch is very focused and the direction always consistent, never any back and forth motions, always unidirectional.

Angela is always asking for feeback from me, is it too much? Is that ok? How does that feel? She would almost wince for me sometimes as she came across a sticky spot. I think I have quite a good tolerance to these kind of sensations though, as I am now pretty experienced at myofascial release and the accompanying sensations. Although, that being said, I have never achieved the same kind of sensations through self myofascial release, compared to when Angela is working on my fascia.

After my calves, she had me walk around a bit to see how they felt........Wow! They just felt so good, so loose and open. When I say 'open', I just mean exactly that.....like my bones, joints and muscles just have more space to move with an increased range of motion. It really is amazing!!

After the calves she put me back on the table again and then went to work on my hamstrings and glutes. Again, queuing me to perform subtle movements to assist with active tissue release as she worked.

She finished off the lower extremities at 'glute med' (the top of my backside!).

Having started the session on my spine, she then skipped ahead to my upper back and shoulders and finally, finishing under my head just below where the skull attaches to the top of the spine. She got her hands under there and had me make my head heavy, cueing me to drop my chin and push my head down into her hands (lengthening my cervical spine) as she manipulated and worked that area, in a kind of circular fashion. That was just lovely! I am going to explore some self myofascial release techniques for this area myself, just because it felt so damn good!

After a quick final stand and pace about, that was the end of session #2.

I left Angela's feeling great and looking forward to session #3. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go for a walk afterwards this time.

A major observation in myself since last week's session, aside from foot mobility, is how much more shoulder mobility I have now. Some of the exercises I have been practising for postural correction involve a lot of shoulder mobility work, so shoulder protraction/retraction as well as shoulder or scapular depression. But the protraction and retractions are where I have noticed the biggest difference in terms of mobility and range of motion. This in turn has really opened up my chest, allowing more space for breathing!

Next session is #3 and will continue and progress into working on and opening up my lateral lines.

It's funny how after each session so far (all two of them!) I have noticed a huge relieve of tension in certain areas of my body. So far that has been most noticeable around my chest, back, shoulders and feet. However, with that relief, seems to come a new and amplified awareness of the other restrictions which still exist within me. After session #1, my chest/shoulders felt amazing, but I was more acutely aware of the tensions in my upper back.

After session #2, my back and feet felt a lot of relief, but that has now drawn my attention to tension in my neck and upper shoulders. But guess what....session #3 should start to address those areas. Cannot wait!!

In between sessions I am still focusing on my postural correction. Doing some limited myofascial release as and when it feels necessary, but mostly letting the KMI process take care of that for now and am focusing on the corrective exercise aspect, mostly involving a lot of static resistance and isometric muscle contractions. That is where the muscles contract and are activated, but do not change in length, so it is more of a static hold, just like when performing a plank excercise for example. The plank is a great corrective exercise for training good posture and core stability, when properly performed. Mindlessly forcing to hold a plank for 1 minute or more is NOT how to properly perform a plank, your body tells you how long to hold it for so listen to your body - please ignore the ridiculous 30 day plank challenges! But isometric contraction is where it is at!....That is how you fire up the all important stabiliser muscles and they are what is going to support a good and effortless posture.

Thanks for reading!

#ThePowerofPosture

#KMI

#StructuralIntegration