Flesh & Bone: Supinator & Scapula

The Supinator: the Supinator is a key muscle of supination or bringing the palm face up. It originates on the lateral epicondyle of the humerus, the supinator crest of the ulna, the radial colateral ligament and the annular ligament. It arises fan-like from two planes: the deep plane is muscular and the superfiscial is tendonous. Between these two planes lies the radial nerve; its deep branch being the innervating nerve. it inserts onto the lateral proximal radial shaft, specifically the radial tuberosity along the oblique line of the radius. It is this oblique line of pull that allows it to perform its action. Its artery is the recurrent radial artery.

Scapula: Simply put the Scapula is the bone that connects the humerus to the calvicle, though the scapula is anything but simple. It is quite possibly the most ingeniously designes bone int he human body. In a larger more systemic picture the scapula forms the posterior portion of the shoulder girdle, the mechanism that mobilizes the arm & the "shoulder". The Scapula can be broken down into many bony landmarks.

The spine is the prominent or palpable part of bone, which crosses obliquely separating the supra- from the infraspinatous fossa. It begins at the medial or vertical border where at the insertion of the lower part of the Trapezius glides, and, gradually becomes more elevated, ending in the acromion, which overhangs the shoulder-joint.

The coracoid process, from the Greek "crow" which indicates it's beak-like quality, is a thick curved process attached by a broad base to the upper part of the neck of the scapula. It runs at first upward and medial; then, becoming smaller, it changes its direction, and projects forward and lateral. It is palpable in the deltopectoral groove, it is the attachment site for several muscles and ligaments that help to stabilize the shoulder.
The Acromion from the Greek Akros or "highest" forms the summit of the shoulder as well as the articulation with the  clavicle forming the acromioclavicular joint with the corresponding ligaments.
There are also the divisions by fossa: sub-scapular, supraspinatous fossa & infraspinatious fossa.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the divisions of the scapula but a perusal of its most prominent features.

Heart Sonnet

mine is a muscle that makes a song
that never stops its playing;
quickly, slowly, short & long.
Some sing of troubles brought by it straying,
some say that for fear it had stopped;
its rooms are several but it’s furniture none,
in moments of dread it has dropped.
It carries and pushes and pumps for its fun.
It quiets and thunders and in love it breaks.
It flutters and jumps, gets worn on the sleeve
and taken to task by the tales of its ache.
Yet it stays where it dances and does not leave;
never undoes its pitter or patter,
for want of a rhythm is, for it, all that matters.

Flesh & Bone: Gastrocnemius & the Sphenoid

For the first Muscle & Bone of the Week we will look at Gastrocnemius & the Spehnoid.

Gastrocnemius:
addressed by the name 'calf' or 'calf muscle' it is a powerful plantar-flexor of the foot & knee flexor. Its origin is superior to the articular surfaces of the lateral & medial condyles of the femur. It inserts into the posterior calcaneus via the calcaneal tendon or Achilles tendon.
Its nerve supply is the Tibial Nerve from the sciatic (specifically nerve roots s-1 & s-2)
Its arteries are the sural arteries.
Its associated meridian is the Triple Heater

Sphenoid:

The Sphenoid, from the Greek word sphenoeides, which means "wedgelike". The sphenoid is sometimes referred to as the 'keystone' of the cranial floor because of it's contact with all the other cranial bones. It is located at the base of the occipital bone and in front of the temporal bone. It has two greater wings & two lesser wings. It can be palpated at the temples where it articulates with the temporal bone.

David Malin, creator of Body Math™ has developed an "inner opening technique" which is "a method of reaching the sphenoid bone and manipulating it with a balloon to release restriction patterns in the body. Restrictions may involve physical health, mental health, emotional well-being, or they may be spiritual in nature. By manipulating the sphenoid bone to release the inner being, the patient is opened up to a new level of healing."

Sestina for a Neuron

The sestina began in the 12th century by the troubadours as a poetic form celebrating courtly love. It is attributed to the the Provencal troubadour Arnaut Daniel. The Neuron was discovered in the 19th century by a few minds but credited to mainly to a Spaniard named Santiago Ramón y Cajal who won the 1906 Nobel in medicine with Camillo Golgi.
 

Sestina for a Neuron

even stillness involves so many instances of signal

synaptic sojourn of sense of body electric

dendritic pathways aft & fore though not by wood these branches

if merely one pulse of think you thought then inside a cell

imprisoned there to never blink blue eyes, smell clipped grass; carry

yourself across the bridge upon these many millions of firing feet of nerve

backbone, boldness, fortitude & pluck a turn of nerve

the audacity of a thirsting body & then quiet, stealthy signal

those lightning channels open & close to carry

the balance it takes to stand the swoon of blooming cherry branches

our unlike anybody-elseness built upon the backs of one cell

after the other holding fast in unseeable & seeming dark under-flash electric

if we are but only these pieces & parts, particles charged electric

then by fragment & fleck might we find our face or the nerve

to find that freedom is not outside our cell

but within it; while these reaches to distant dying stars as signal

to the sky to reveal itself for the anatomy of life only forks & branches

the root is ever traceable, take your hand toward the Sun let it carry

you back; to atomics & everafter then the way the pain will carry

itself along having began perhaps in the hand or heart electric

lines laid down, up, like limbs of trees sense the sky with its branches

light, pressure of eagle’s eyrie, prick of pin or break of heart from nerve

to nerve until we know it hurts. react. halt. heed. send a signal

what we mean when we say ouch begins with a single cell

O soma O axon O neuron; how do we know thee cell?

are you not every word heard, bird seen, song we carry

through the thick & fragrant air a smoke signal

of life stretches out a travel under skin an electric

impulse through bone, muscle, organ, brought to life by the nerve

ever reaching out O little fingers of the branches

to sense, then to move, we animated & too like branches

sway outstretched at either end; how meager then the merely cell

its neural image found in gardens green deciduous et al our nature’s nerve

a fecund forest found to be then how the earth may carry

all that’s sensed & all that’s seen and even here electric

this ball of blue itself alive with anatomic signal

it were no dream this symmetry of branches, nor of carry

out across the cell divides a sign or impulse signal

for all that lives knows nerve enough imbued with life electric

Flesh & Bone: Tibialis Anterior & The Lacrimal Bone

Tibialis Anterior & The Lacrimal Bone:

Tibialis Anterior as a dorsiflexor is an antagonist to gastrocnemius, soleus, plantaris, fibularis longus & tibilais posterior. It originates on the body of the tibia, specifically at the upper two-thirds of the lateral surface, as well as the lateral tibial condyle and the interosseous membrane.  It inserts into the medial and plantar surfaces of the medial cuneiform and the base of the first metatarsal bone along the medial and plantar surfaces.  It is innervated by the deep fibular nerve or peroneal nerve. Its artery is the anterior tibial artery. Its associated meridian is the bladder meridian. Its actions are dorsiflexion and inversion of the foot.

The lacrimal bone

or Os Lacrimale from the Latin lacrima meaning tear; the lacrimal bone is the smallest bone of the face and cranium.
It articulates with the inferior nasal concha as well as the maxilla, frontal & ethmoid bones. It helps to form a portion of the nasolacrimal canal through which tears run from the tear duct to the nasal cavity. It is the most delicate bone in the face. The lacrimal bone ossifies from a single center during the twelfth week of life.

We Are The Victims My Friend & We'll Keep On Crying 'Till The End

Today I listened to a woman describe in general and vague descriptions a set of symptoms for an inflammatory disease that has yet to be identified from which she suffers.  Add to this her, retinue of vitamins, supplements, fibromyalgia, and a car accident and you have a chronic sufferer. Next to her was a woman that suffers from candida, a rib that is somehow always 'out' and a gluten intolerance, not to mention a seemingly endless amount of physical aches & pains that keep her in a state of what would appear to perpetual misery at the worst or constant discomfort at the best. To ice the cake would be to mention that both these women are students in health care and wellness.

 It would be easy to say that I am just overly critical and/or judgmental. In fact this was my first line of thought in trying to regard something that I am certain I cannot be the only one to say is starting too look like a phenomenon. These victim syndromes which is what I will call them here are tearing at the wellness core of more than just a few people, in fact I would wager that we all know someone that is perpetually broken, diseased, syndromed or suffering from some sort of allergy or intolerance.  This is well beyond a judgement call or a harsh criticism. In fact it is almost impossible that the case would be otherwise, with the information systems that we have being at our fingertips in the way that they are. Anyone can experience anything from numbness in the extremities to simple fatigue and search through the annals of wikipedia or WEB MD and begin their self-diagnosis. From here there are books that offer more miracle cures or so they say for these circumstances and suffering trends. And so they are bought and read, and followed to the letter or very nearly, or practically or hardly at all; but none of it matters because what is important is that sufferer has attempted to become well and there has alas been an obstacle placed before them and so they are unable to reach over the final threshold. For as it turns out after all it wasn't candida overgrowth but an intolerance to wheat and an allergy to dairy; or in fact some yet to be named inflammatory disease. These are two examples that I feel are easy to stick to for the sake of argument but this really goes on into so many territories that is somewhat shocking to think of; not to mention the steps and lengths taken to 'cure' these maladies. Starting with diets and supplements first but to be clear self-diagnosed a.k.a. subjective self-medicating.

Yes I am pointing a finger. I am pointing a finger at the individuals themselves that seem to be so insistent on their disease and pain that they refuse to let it go. There are no cures for self-abuse. No diet or supplement will teach you how to allow yourself to feel ease and comfort, to experience a life without chronic pain. Which is not to say that all of these diseases are not real but rather the question to me is not a new question nor is it one with a quantifiable answer: to what degree is the human being responsible for their own dis-ease? We can look to Carolyn Myss' theories based on her years and experience as a medical intuitive & mystic, we can look to shamanic practices throughout the world as they attempt to place at least a majority of the responsibilities on the individual or at least on the circumstances & environment around the individual in the form of wronged spirits or lost soul parts; the point being in these scenarios the from the shamanic or mystical point of view there are actions one must take to incur the healing process, journeying inward to retrieve a soul part, or appeasing a spirit could then be seen as a reflection of one's own responsibility in their healing.

A chiropractor and a neurosurgeon are having a conversation. The chiropractor says to the neurosurgeon "Don't you ever want to point to other modes of operation that might benefit the patient; like other things to consider before going under a knife and having something removed, cut or otherwise aggressively approached?" The Neurosurgeon replies: "  I am a hammer, people come to me because the want hammering. By the time the arrive in my office they are not open to other modes, they are not looking to change anything about themselves, they are looking for a hammer.

The the primary problem then seems to lie in the approach to problem-solving that is the dominant perspective at least here in the west. Which goes like this: how do I treat the symptom? But the secondary problem compounds the primary by adding into the equation our infinitely developing information systems. Add to this the attention complexes that so many of us have developed due to a society that prizes income over intimacy and you land on a very large group of people that are in a perpetual swing of dis-ease, self- medication, in order that they might stand out in some way as individuals. Which is to say to some degree that we are learning to identify ourselves by what is wrong with us, because it somehow it appears that these dis-ease combinations are the only things that set us apart from one another.
So we clique into our victim niches and label ourselves and treat ourselves and watch different way, if we do not begin to understand the role that we play in our own dis-ease then we will only learn to manage the darkness, to keep it at bay.