10 STABILITY OF THE SPINE
Stability of the spine
"You have no backbone" means: You are not stable. "She's the backbone of the marriage" means: She keeps the marriage afloat.
The spine is used continuously as a metaphor for strength and stability. Literally remain standing. This is surprising since a backbone in itself has limited stability of itself. They are basically just 24 'blocks' stacked on top of each other.
The stability of the spine is based on the following three points. Axial pressure2. Compression3. "Tensegrity"
The yellow ligament net
The most important stabilizing structure of the spine is the ligamentum flavum. (literal translation is “yellow ligament”) This canary-colored ligamentum flavum is very elastic and runs from the back of the vertebral canal from the skull to the sacrum between the buttocks (os Sacrum, S2). The ligamentum flavum is best for you compare with the rubber band through the axes of the 'Finger Push Toy' below.
1. Axle pressure
'The Finger Push Toy' This axial pressure may be shown even more clearly by the giraffe above. When you press the button on the bottom, the giraffe falls into each other and when the button is released, the giraffe stands upright again because the rubber bands come under tension again.
2. Compression
Due to the weight of the trunk and the skull in combination with gravity, compression also takes place on the spine. This is comparable to a pile of bricks, where the lower stones are difficult to remove due to the pressure of the weight of the stones above them.
3. 'Tensegrity'
However, there is also another way to achieve stability and that can be compared to the way in which guy lines around a tent pole keep each other under tension and as a result the tent remains standing upright. The spine can be compared with the tent pole and the large amount of small back muscles are the guy lines. The spine is then the tent pole that is held upright by the mutually opposing tensions of the muscles (De mm. Multifidi). This phenomenon is also called tensegrity.
