For the past several months I’ve been obsessed. I’ve been obsessed with a need to explain the actions of the muscles of the upper half as they relate to the typical Left AIC and Right BC pattern. It started when I was teaching Postural Respiration in Washington DC last year. One of the course attendees said “Mike, you need to make a document like the one in myokin”. She was referring to the document titled “Positional and compensatory influences of the Left AIC pattern on muscles of the lumbo-pelvic-femoral region” that’s on pages 18, 19 and 20 in the Myokinematic Restoration manual. I helped James Anderson edit that excellent document of his on a cold winter day in Nebraska a couple of years ago. Anyway, this was something that she wanted: a document that explained in a similar fashion, the actions of the musculature of the upper half. I agreed that that was a great idea and thus began the obsession. I didn’t realize how bad it was until folks at my office began to mention my desk being a mess. Well, it’s always a mess, but this was a little worse than usual. I wonder if that course attendee remembers asking and I wonder if she’s aware of what she’s done.
As I have been working on this device, I came across some issues with regard to the levator scapula. I labored over this muscle (and a few others since I’m not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed) and continued to run into walls. I was stuck. No problem, I thought. I’ll call my buddy James! He and I have spent many an hour laboring over more-complicated stuff than a simple levator scapula. Together I knew we could reconcile good old levator. End result: hmmm. A non-definitive conclusion; although I think James had it but I kept throwing a wrench in the works. We both agreed that I should call Ron. Surely Yoda himself could square this away.
So as I continued laboring over the big document I called Ron. “Ron”, I said, “I’m having some trouble with levator scapula”. Well, little did I know that he was in the middle of a big meeting with Bobbie Rappl regarding the new exercise CD. Bobbie just loves it when I call. Ron began explaining as I wrote notes and eventually Bobbie signaled to him that he was supposed to be in a meeting with her. We said our good byes and I began anew with my new thoughts on levator scapula.
Not five minutes had passed and I discovered a new obsession. Not mine, Ron’s! My phone rings: “Mike, its Ron”, he said. “Bobbie is pretty upset because I’m calling you back when we should be in our meeting but I just had to. I couldn’t let go of this levator scapula thing. I want us to nail it down and I want you to create a document on levator scapula. We need it and it’s more important than the document you’re currently working on”. So for the next 30 minutes we focused our attention on levator scapula. The end-result is the completed treatise available to you now. As for Washington DC…Don’t worry, I’m on a roll. I’m having a few issues I need to deal with right now though. I know…maybe I can call Bobbie and Ron again.
-Michael Cantrell, MPT, PRC
To read the article on the Levator Scapula CLICK HERE!