The Cervical Spine:
Bottom Up Bobble Head
By
Rodney Corn MA, FAFS, CoFounder PTA Global
You don’t have to be a typical bobble head to enjoy the cervical spine. With a quick dabble in Applied Functional Science (AFS), we can avoid the embarrassment of a constant bobbling head, all while employing a “Bottom Up” strategy. This is going to be an “enter‐active” article where you will “enter” into the story and “actively” play out the words. I hope you don’t mind. So, if you would be so kind, please follow along and enjoy the bobble head ride … Don’t be afraid to let out a giggle here and there.
Okay, before we start, just a few quick ground rules … First, remain in a standing position, and second, I would like you to keep your eyes and head fixed on the screen at all times throughout this enter‐active article – in other words, please don’t let your head move.
Let’s get enter‐active, shall we? To start, please take both hands and reach them out in front of your knees. Thank you, great job. Now, take your pelvis and move it forward as far as you can. Beautiful. This time, lean your right shoulder down toward your right hip and then your left shoulder down toward you left hip. Excellent! You follow directions very well. Okay, last one. Take your right hand and, keeping it at shoulder height, reach as far to your left as you can … and yes, you guessed it, take your left hand over to the right as far as you can.
Congratulations! If you kept your head from moving, then you just successfully performed three‐dimensional cervical motion … and never once moved your head. Isn’t AFS cool? You see, in function, our cervical spine is capable of many movements and combinations of movements. When you reached both hands forward, you performed cervical extension (like looking up). When you moved your pelvis forward, you performed cervical flexion (like looking down). When you leaned your shoulders down, you performed cervical lateral flexion (like touching your ear to your shoulder), and when you reached your right hand to the left (and vice‐versa), you performed cervical rotation (like shaking your head “no”).
Typically, we think we must move the head to create cervical motion, to stretch the neck, or what have you. Now the cervical spine can, and does, move in this fashion – using the head and/or eyes as the “driver” of the motion. However, very often it is the feet, pelvis, hands, or trunk that drives the cervical spine to move.
For example, when we walk, our right foot comes forward and the pelvis rotates to the left while our left hand swings forward and the trunk (thoracic spine) rotates to the right. If our eyes/head remain fixed forward, then our cervical spine is actually rotating to the left. This is exactly what you just did a minute ago when you took your left hand and reached it to the right. Go try it in the mirror and take your left hand and reach it forward while your right hand reaches behind you. Where is your head (chin) relative to your left shoulder? Pretty cool, huh?
When we come to appreciate the concepts of AFS, we quickly understand that motion can occur and/or be driven as a result of many possible scenarios. Let me leave you with this enteractive tid‐bit … From your standing position – eyes/head fixed forward – reach your pelvis to the left. Now take you right hand and place it on your left shoulder. Keeping these positions, now lean your trunk backward. What motions did you just perform at your cervical spine in the sagittal, frontal, and transverse planes? Additionally, what muscle did you just stretch? (Answer: Extension in the Sagittal Plane, Left Lateral Flexion in the Frontal Plane, and Right Rotation in the Transverse Plane; Right Sternocleidomastoid.) Resource: Gray, Gary. Functional Video Digest v1.9: Cervical Spine. 2003.