BLOG: Anatomy for Touch
When you first studied the musculo-skeletal system, you probably learned that most muscles create movement through contraction that pulls on their tendons, which then transmits force to the bones. But what happens in regions like our anterior abdomen where there are no bony...
The trapezius is the broad, superficial, paired muscle of the upper back and a long-time favorite in bodywork. Our clients' frequent request for focus on the upper back and shoulders comes as a result of the daily hit their traps take – whether from their desk jobs and driving their cars or...
The soles of our feet are under a lot of stress — mechanical stress, that is. Consider how much we rely on our plantar foot to quietly manage some pretty impactful tasks, from bearing our body weight as we stand at the massage table to absorbing impact as we walk, run, or jump. Our...
Anatomical drawings and dissection images often depict the IT Band as a two-dimensional "strap" on the lateral thigh, leaving us with an incomplete picture that doesn't exactly match what we feel beneath our hands. Broadening our understanding to include a three-dimensional view of the deep...
The Cutest Little Ligaments
Between the skin-we-touch and the muscles-we-palpate, lies a whole world of tissue and activity that is often under-addressed in our anatomy books, including one extraordinary structure we massage every day called the skin ligaments(Latin: retinacula cutis). They are...
