Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Manual and Movement Therapists
ISBN:9780443102837 read summary

B J Palmer developed these very same concepts in the 1920s and '30s. He was the son of D D Palmer who originated Chiropractic; and, yes, B J was a chiropractor, too. This "new" conception is heavily based on Palmer's work and theories on/of the HIO adjustment (Atlas Specific) and the rest of the body's response (yes, that includes associated tissues such as fascia, muscles, ligaments, and everything else -- All the way down to your toes and through your fingers). I wonder why the Sub-Occipital Region is the key and "Functional Center" of the SBL...? Hmmmmm....? Could that have anything to do with exactly what B J was teaching and practicing before Myers was even born (regarding the body's interconnectedness)? 'Cuz, you know, that's exactly what B J said eighty years ago. Chiropractic colleges have been teaching this stuff for nearly a century without all the hype and fanfare. Strange, as we all know chiropractors are "quacks" to the rest of the medical field, but when people can rip off chiropractic theories, ideas, and techniques, then exploit them as their own "discoveries" and tout their magnificence; then the medical community falls all over themselves trying to utilize these techniques and take credit for them. This book is an embarrassment to Chiropractic History. However, kudos to Myers for helping to open-up-the-eyes of the rest of the medical community to the wonders of Chiropractic Medicine. After all, it's the wellness of the patient that truly matters; something that most of the rest of the "community" seems to have sacrificed, instead, for power and profit.

(BTW, the Amazon "Review" by "Gary Cook" has the word "its" grammatically mis-conjugated as "it's," forming a conjugation where a dis-conjugation is grammatically correct. Maybe someone on the Amazon staff can correct this for the sake of adding professionalism to the site.)

This is my second purchase of this book. I bought it to give to my physical therapist. I'm repeating my first review under my new account.

Wow! I thought I'd ordered the wrong book for my needs, which are 1.more knowledge of the process of myofascial release and 2. more understanding of places/points of anatomy. It has been a long while since I've been in school and a long time since I worked at a top teaching hospital in the Bay area in California.

I read a few paragraphs, taking care not to damage the book, because I thought I'd probably return it. HOWEVER, after a few sentences I was immediately caught up in the beauty and clarity of this work. NEVER has physiology been made so interesting. Finally, I understand so many things that were just a jumble of memorized facts in preparation for exams. This book has rekindled my love of physiology and is even undoing my dislike of anatomy. Anatomy didn't make sense to me - it was boring - it was memorization. Now I am understanding why my body is so damaged from the stresses I subject it to, but better, I understand how I can undo some damage and prevent more.

I worked on a Sports Medicine unit where famous athletes came for surgery. So much surgery can be avoided with corrective measures for chronic stressors. The medical community needs to be aware of this important material.

So bravo for such a readable work. What depth of historial findings, beautiful graphics, excellent grammar and text. I feel as though I'm in school again, but this time it is for pleasure and for pain relief.

After a few pages I tried to find out more about the author and was surprised not to see a Ph.D. by his name, although I'm not sure a Ph.D. makes one any wiser.

I totally concur with the first review.

Don't buy this book if you are looking for a simple, trendy approach to bodywork. This is so much more.

As a trainer and movement therapist, I have only actually begun my path of manual therapy. This book is actually the 3rd book I have read on this educational journey. It is clear, concise, technical, conceptual, and has truly brought a global understanding to the inner-workings of our complex body. Most surprising, and very beneficial to trainers, is that these concepts can completely alter the way you train an individual and program design against postural distortions. Fantastic book and very much recommended.

I had heard a lot about the Anatomy Trains book and it had been recommended to me by several other professionals. As a young professional in the sports medicine realm, I wish I had been exposed to this book sooner! It provides a great "outside the box" view of the body and gives the reader or clinician a whole new way to approach the body. A must read for anybody involved with sports medicine in my opinion!

I not only read this book, but I also did the 3-day training with Tom Myers himself. I actually experienced something down my superficial back line that weekend, which is the first line he discusses. It took a few days, but I've resolved it via some rolling and self-massage of the plantar fascia, calf and low back (all part of the SBL--Superficial Back Line), as well as getting myself a much-needed new and firm mattress on the Saturday of the course. It was interesting to have an experience of things being discussed. He's a great teacher with much experience and he conveys his work very well, just as he does in the book.

The book is very well-thought out, illustrated, organized, and written. The images are great and provide a real sense of what he's discussing. There are images of cadaver dissections, primal pictures images, rendering of the Anatomy Trains. The book is full color and the chapters are color coded making it a bit easier to get through.

The first chapter is rather dense at 60 pages, but the discussion of cellular biology really helps in giving some good background of this connective tissue matrix or extracellular matrix (ECM in Gray's Anatomy) that the Anatomy Trains is based upon. It's a good foundational chapter before getting into the myofascial meridians themselves.

Also covered in that first chapter is Buckminster Fuller's tensegrity (tension and compression) model. It is successfully mapped onto the human body and described in detail while juxtaposed to the classical Newtonian model of mechanical physics and the isolated muscle system we were all taught. I find the tensegrity model of the body to be nothing short of brilliant! The bones as compression structures pushing outward while the connective tissue and muscles making up the tension matrix pulling the bones in, thereby keeping them in place. It has muscular joint stability make so much more sense.

The anatomy trains are well-laid out and thoroughly explained. This system provides a good functional and global model of the musculoskeletal system, as opposed to the standard isolated muscle view. Recommendations for treatment and stretching techniques are well-discussed.

Although I state as a cautionary note that the average personal trainer will lack the anatomy background to delve into this work. I find it a bit more advanced and fitness pros should spend some time with some good functional anatomy resources before hitting this work. I haven't read Tom Myers' "Body 3: The Anatomist Reader", but it was stated in the course material as a good book to help with the anatomical references. Learning all of the functions of the separate muscles I think will help people to understand the Anatomy Trains better, because it can't be expected that this book will be a review of that. The classic "Muscles: Testing and Function with Posture and Pain" is a great work to delve into before attempting Anatomy Trains. Massage Therapists will most likely not have a problem with Anatomy Trains.

With that said, I also wished that the book and course had more fitness applications expressed so as to draw more fitness practitioners, instead of just yoga and pilates. I was the only personal trainer in the course out of 36 students and there is so much potential for this kind of work in the fitness industry. Gray Cook's review of the book should be evidence of that. Sue Hitzman, creator of the MELT Method, is doing some great work in the fitness industry with this model, but there should be much more done with it in general movement and function. There could be far greater application in the larger fitness industry which deals with movement in general. Physical Therapists can definitely benefit from this model as well. There were but 3 PTs in that course with me, including one from Provo, UT who flew to NYC to take the course.