I was afforded the opportunity to attend a seminar given by Dr. Gil Hedley on Integral Anatomy. It provided a different perspective on how we are put together than traditional anatomy textbooks.
As we thumb through the pages of textbooks looking at pages of illustrations describing our body in individual segments. Each muscle having a definitive beginning and end with its own individual movement. However, through years of careful dissections, Dr. Hedley found that our bodies are more layered than we realize. Muscle groups with continuations of tissue instead of a break which would segregate one from another. His conclusion, ‘just because someone decided to run their scalpel and split the muscle, we now have to accept the fact it is more than one active part.

One case in point, the hamstrings consisting of Biceps Femoris, Semi Tendinosus and Semi-Mebranosus actually are one continuous ‘N’ shaped muscle. He came up with his own name for it…”Nuoid Femoris” meaning ‘femoral muscle that looks like an N’.  How much simpler would it be to look at ourselves and remember muscles in groups.
Looking at slides and video footage of the dissection of two cadavers, one male one female, showed the impact layers have on our form and shape. The body is split into two areas…the onion and the tree. The onion is the layers that make up our shape, and the tree is the rigid form that provides structure and life.
The skin, the largest recognised organ in our body is an outer layer which does not change..it just conforms to that which lies beneath.  Under which is the superficial fascia comprised largely of adipose (fatty) tissue and the foundation for our skin. This is the ‘fluffy’ layer.  The layer which is subject to change and which depends, to a large extent, from what happens in our lives. There are studies which found that the adipose tissue responds to stimulus much like the outer skin does, such as being light reactive.  It is theorized that when we get the feelings of alertness, for instance that ’sixth sense’ that something may be wrong, that it is the cells of the superficial layer that are responsible for triggering the reaction taken by the body as a whole.  The fact that a person is endowed with adipose tissue does not necessarily have to mean that they are unhealthy.

What makes a 300 lb man on his couch eating chips different from a 300lb NFL player? Their embrace of their size. The man on the couch is resigned to just existing and that superficial layer is affecting him negatively. The NFL player accepts the importance of his size and so it has a more positive affect on him. Drawing this conclusion led Dr. Hedley to believe that the superfiscial fascia may likely be the largest organ, depending on the size of the individual. Remember, it is a fluffy layer and not everyone has the same ratio of fatty tissue.
Next comes the Deep Fascia layer covering the muscle. This layer, once the outer layers have been removed, reveals the true form of a person.The form which has not yet been sheltered by the superficial layer. A layer which in its natural state is transparent but binds the form together like a web around a fly. The muscles as I described earlier are laid out in groups, many of which share a common ligament. Looking at muscle in united groups helps us appreciate the effect of one muscle to another. When we are doing Trigger point work and find that a key point sends satellite pain to another area, the idea of each muscle being more than an individual muscle is validated.
Once at the skeleton we could stop and say it is the tree that provide our structure, and this is where the seminar concluded. But with more years of carefully peeling each layer until there is no more may reveal secrets to how we are made that as yet we have not seen.
So next time you are working on a body, remember to treat it as a whole. The complete well being depends on each body part or layer communicating that sense of wellness within itself. As therapists, we have the privilege of helping others realize the potential of the inner body. May the coming year provide health and wellness to all!

Darren

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