Myers, Tom
Myers, Tom
Tom Myers developed the Anatomy Trains during the 1990’s to teach human fascial anatomy at the Rolf Institute. He was inspired by Ida Rolf's repeated assertion that, “It’s all connected through the fascia.” Myers sought a structure that evoked this assertion, and found an early solution by stringing the muscles together through the fascia, but then saw an article by Raymond Dart showing the human trunk muscles linked in a double-spiral arrangement. Earlier and similar approaches are found in the meridians of acupuncture, Leonardo DaVinci's sketches, Hoepke (a German anatomist of the 1930's) and the work of Françoise Meziére in France.
Myers expanded the approach to account for the entire human body, later explaining the model structurally through work in structural tensegrity and biotensegrity research. Annie Wyman helped him systematize the connections, and others began teaching it. Since 2004 Myers has sought confirmation for these ideas in human dissection studies and publishes the results on his website. He works today on broadening the concept to include human neurology, leading to a comprehensive, tensegrity-based, easy to comprehend model of what he calls the "neuro-myo-fascial web."
Selected Articles By Myers
Read here selected articles by Myers. For more articles by Myers see, Anatomy Trains.
Kinese - On Developmental Movement
Kinese - On Developmental Moevement by Myers. Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33438093/Kinese-On-Developmental-Moevement-by-Myers
Tom Myers, author of Anatomy Trains, gives an entry level overview of movement from the perspective of tensegrity. The tension compression network of fascia and bone is not mentioned overtly to keep the text simple. But Myers' conceptual framework clearly underlies his approach, as for example when he gives his basic anatomy lesson: "human bodies have seven major weights—two arms, two legs, the pelvis, the chest, and the head. Between each of these major weights is a free space that rotates—the two shoulders, the two hips, the waist, and the neck. (Why isn’t this simple but profound fact at the front of most anatomies?" For more see Tom Myers'Anatomy Trains for more about fascia, http://www.anatomytrains.com
Discovery Through Dissection
Discovery Through Dissection by Myers. Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33438181/Discovery-Through-Dissection-by-Myers
Thomas Myers published this article in Massage & Bodywork, January/February 2010. In it he describes the current state of human dissection studies, and how such research is both cogent and helpful to people studying Anatomy Trains. While the process of dissection is grisly, he writes there is no avoiding the exposed fat, meat, organ, and sinew, to those who wish to comprehend anatomical structure. Myers discusses the moral issues as well. "Far from being a detached, scientific project, participating in these dissections is dynamic, emotional, poetic, and ultimately soul-expanding." Dissectors expose the structures of the body and clarify the conception of myofascial slings and meridians arrayed around the skeleton, a way of seeing the functional connections at the heart of Anatomy Trains. For example, Anatomy Trains sets out 12 myofascial meridians running along the body in various directions. Does dissection support this explication of body structure? Photographs in the article show the myofascial continuity from the trunk to the palm-the Superficial Front Arm line connects the throwing shoulder to the gripping fingers. The latissimus and pectoralis major both link fascially to the medial intermuscular septum that conrtects over the humeral epicondyle to the flexor group. This flexor group runs through the carpal tunnel to the palm of the hand out to the fingertips. Myers explores this and other lines. He concludes that The traditional anatomical approach of identifying and singling out individual muscles is at the very least not the whole story. A tensegrity explanation of the results of dissection is a "story" that better explains our biological reality.
Treatment Strategies for Hip
Treatment Strategies for Hip (Deep Lateral Rotators in Pelvic Tilt) by Myers. Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33438131/Treatment-Strategies-for-Hip-Deep-Lateral-Rotators-in-Pelvic-Tilt-by-Myers
A consideration of the hip's muscles known as deep lateral rotators, and their role in Structural Integration. While the hamstrings are usually considered as playing a primary role, Myers lists the disadvantages of this approach. Instead, Myers points to deeper, single-joint muscles as the key players in hip mechanics. The muscles are listed, and then specific treatments are proposed.
Links and References
Anatomy Trains website, http://www.anatomytrains.com