Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/82405
BODYREADING THE MERIDIANS A B Contract the Superficial Front Line point to point, and you get something like Image 2A; stretch them away from each other, and you get an upward dog or cobra pose, or similar backbends, Image 2B. B A side view of the Superficial Front Line—our protector—shows it running from the pubic bone up along the sides and around the back of the skull. hyperextended (Image 2A). Stretching these points away from each other would produce a cobra pose with toes pointed, or, more strongly, a deep backbend (Image 2B). In both these extremes, the SFL would be interacting with other lines, particularly the Superficial Back Line on the other side of the body (which we will discuss in the next issue) as well as the Lateral, Spiral, and Core lines to follow. To see the SFL as a fascial plane, imagine that we put plastic cling wrap along the front of the body. Considered this way, the SFL would include the whole front of the body: top of the foot, front of the lower leg (including the fascia on top of the shin bone, a whole bridle of fascia around the knee, and the fascia lata on the front of the thigh). The second piece would stretch from the abdominal fascia arising from the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) and pubic bone to the chest and neck fascia (Image 3). The Superficial Front Line diagrammed as a line of pull (from number to number) and as a plane of more superficial fascial fabric (shaded). Or, we can define the SFL as a volume, as in Image 1—a series of connected muscles running up under this superficial fascial plane from station to station: • The anterior crural compartment of tibialis anterior and long toe extensors. • The quadriceps complex. • The rectus abdominis and accompanying superficial abdominal fascial sheets. • The pectoral and sternal fascia, along with sternalis if there is one. • The sternocleidomastoid and its fascial extension up to the asterion on the skull. 76 massage & bodywork july/august 2011