Superficial Back Line

SBL as part of conditioning performance puzzle

With this article I want to point your attention to back line of our body and more specific – muscles and their fascia, which form that line .

As long a conditioning coach must know this relationship I would leave you to evaluate.

I would be glad if we have some discussions in which everyone can share his experience and observations.

For our and yours convenience I will use abbreviation, with which that line is called in thick books – SBL ( Superficial Back Line) . (Fig.1)

If we observe every single part of that line we can conclude:

from top of our body ( head) to the bottom ( feet) everything is related in one magnificent mechanism.

Lets point our attention to the lowest part without deep thoughts and get through next elements in this chain.

Here we are interested in plantar fascia, which is located in bottom part of the foot. (Fig.2)

It has important role in keeping the natural arch of the foot and its correct weight distribution.

Plantar fascia inserts in calcaneus bone and from there thanks to periosteum ?( membrane which covers bones) get related with Achilles.?Really interesting way of connection ! (Fig.3)

Achilles itself is structured in such way that can resist on really high tension and load.

That’s why it inserts in periosteum of calcaneus bone in collagen matrix like big three roots ( deep and branch out)

This proven relationship provides whole new sight of this muscle – bone apparatus.

Muscles not just inserts with their tendons to the bones, but interact in many and different ways.

(which are not object of our article)

Achilles continues above to m. Gastrocnemius and m. Soleus ( lower leg muscles) (Fig. 4)

Medial head of m. Gastrocnemius inserts in popliteus surface of femur bone. Lateral head inserts from lateral side of lateral condyle of femur bone.

On picture you can see how when the knee is bended m. Hamstrings and m. Gastrocnemius function separated and how when the knee is extended they are in narrow relationship. (Fig.5)

Continuing from distal part of hamstring muscles we reach their end passing under glute muscles and connects to Sacrotuberous Ligament. ( Fig.4) ( Fig.6)

From here we continue our way to m. erector spinae ( Fig.7) which lead us to occiput bone and muscles in this area ( m. suboccipotals) ( Fig.8). and we complete this line in supraorbital ridge. ( Fig.9)

With this pictures we get common view of SBL.

Each one of these areas can be viewed more deeply, but I wanted just to give some basic understanding in order to ask few questions, with intention to leave you to think about ( and maybe share with me / us) :

1.?How are we supposed to look at functions of muscle/muscles – individually or like part of mechanism ( line, complex, chain and etc. ) ?

2. How are we supposed to train this muscles when they are in so narrow relationship from feet to the skull?

3.?Is the problem of often injuries should be looked only local or this can tell us that something is wrong in the whole chain . ( Example: hamstring strains, stretches can be related to gastrocnemius and plantar fascia ( flat feet )? ?

4. Is there other lanes like this one in our body?

5. Is releasing of one zone can lead to releasing in another zone ( in same line) and even in another line. Will this increase mobility at all?

6. Is the activation/ relaxation of certain muscles ( and their fascia) ?would increase % of efficiency of strength, power, speed, endurance – local and at whole? ??

7. How is supposed to create this pattern of movements ?

8. How they operate and can we create better connection ( between different lines if there is any) ?? ?

I will share some answers with you ( my thoughts) : ?

There are more lines and some of them even have deep lines ( layers). ?

Each line is in interaction with another line in one way or another.

As conditioning ?coaches our job is to manage information which is given from our football players and their bodies.

Our bodies are always in dynamic balance. They never gets full balance (harmony). The point is?- do we use information which they provide us in time in order to achieve our objectives ( prevention from injuries, developing and using their skills effectively.)

Understanding this relationship is one fundamental ( my thoughts) tool with which every coach should be able to work.

Understanding this relationships he can better classify the demands of the sport on basic and specific level. This will enable him to train athletes correctly – like live organism ( not separating elements but building them in one)

This knowledge will provide better relationship with kinesiotherapist and football coaches.

This for sure will increase their work efficiency in many ways. ( less injuries, strong come back from injuries, high neuromuscular coordination level and etc.)

I will leave this article open, because like in football and in life there is no formula – you should always search and observe unknown In one equation and they always multiplying and multiplying.

Author : Nikolay Leskov