Suboccipital Muscles (Primary Control?)

[sraj]

Hello List,

I am currently reading Robin Cook’s latest thriller “Manner of Death”, published in 2023. The heroes in Robin Cook’s books are forensic doctors (Jack and Laurie, a doctor couple) who conduct autopsies in the largest such establishment in the world – New York City. Just came across a section where there is reference to a perfectly healthy young man, 28 years old, who died due to “both vertebral arteries having dissections”, caused by “adjustment” of the neck.  (Forceful adjustment of the body was common practice worldwide before the advent of modern medicine.)

This reminded me of the paper presented by Dr. A. Murdoch at the Hastings Division of the British Medical Association, May 5, 1936; available in full, as Appendix B in F. M. Alexander’s fourth book, “The Universal Constant in  Living”, published in 1941.

Understanding the delicacy and complexity of the suboccipital muscles (suboccipital joint – Skull x Atlas x Axis) is a challenging task. These two U Tube resources published by Sam Webster should help.

… Vertebral artery anatomy, published 2023, 17:03 minutes long.

… Atlas and axis vertebrae, published 2019, 20:25 minutes long.

(The more important discussions are towards the end)

Regards,

Selvaraj