 | | Myofascial meridians: lateral line (LL) | Excerpted from Myofascial Training, by Ester Albini.
Thomas Myers discovered that synergistically coordinated myofascial connections are spread longitudinally across the whole body. These create a map that helps us to read and interpret our body and explain how movement and force are distributed within the body as a whole. Myers called these lines myofascial meridians. These interconnected roads wrap the body in a three-dimensional webbing and functionally support the body’s primary movements and maintain posture. In practice, force, tension, compensations, and most spatial movements are distributed along these lines.
The Lateral Line (LL)
The Lateral Line (LL) crosses each side of the body, starting from the medial and lateral point of the middle of the foot, passing around and outside the ankle, climbing up the lateral tract of the leg and thigh, and intertwining along the trunk before arriving at the skull near the ear.
|  | Posture and Movement
The LL is important for both posture and movement. It balances the right and left sides of the body. It transmits forces to the other myofascial lines. Although the LL primarily acts on the coronal (frontal) plane, its movements also include the spirals and counter-rotations of the chest.
The LL helps to create the body’s lateral curve – lateral flexion of the trunk, abduction of the hip, and eversion of the foot – but also acts as an adjustable “brake” for lateral movements and trunk rotations. Its primary function is to stabilize the body in motion. The primary actions of the LL are as follows:
- Eversion, pronation, and plantar flexion of the foot
- Abduction of the hip
- Lateral flexion of the spinal column and head
- Rotation of the spinal column and ribs
Feel it
Explore the LL in minute detail. Connect the points as you adopt the positions. (The exercises here are purely for illustrative purposes: They shall be covered in greater detail in the exercise chapters).
Standing upright: Place your right foot behind your left and raise your right arm above your head, gently stretching and tilting your chest to the left. You should feel the LL in your right side activate and stretch from the outside of your foot to the pinkie of your hand. Place your hands on the wall and raise your left leg. You should feel both sides of your chest and legs activate and strengthen. |
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