The Muscle Book

Paul Blakey, formerly an international ballet dancer and now a practicing osteopath, has written and illustrated this book for anyone who wants to know more about muscles.

The book clearly identifies all major muscles of the human body, and shows how they work. For each muscle there is straightforward information including common problems, signs of weakness, and self- massage for first aid.

Students of anatomy and physiology, yoga, massage, and dance, as well as athletes, will find this book to be an invaluable and easy-to-follow guide.

A few years ago I was asked to teach anatomy to hatha yoga teachers. I was fortunate to find The Muscle Book in my search for a practical, easy-to-use text that would answer the questions a layperson working with the muscular skeletal system might ask. With no formal training in anatomy, medicine, or biology, the indecipherable technical language and overwhelming detail in anatomy texts can be disconcerting. The Muscle Book bridges the gap between those who need only a simple, practical, functional understanding of the muscular skeletal system and those who must rely on professional-level anatomy textbooks.

The emphasis in this book is not on anatomy for its own sake but on understanding how the body works: the major muscles and what they do, how to spot imbalances, and practical tips. Whether you are a truck driver with a stiff neck, a dancer rehabbing a tendon injury, or a yoga teacher helping someone recover from back pain, The Muscle Book makes anatomy interesting and applicable. Everything about this text is clear, practical, and accessible. At a glance it shows you the origin and attachment of muscles, how to tell if a muscle is weak, how to strengthen it, and how to avoid injury.

Perhaps my most telling comment is this: I am a board-certified internal medicine physician and a certified massage therapist. You can imagine how much anatomy I have studied in my life! Yet faced with a pain in my shoulder recently, it was to this book that I turned to for help.

I continue to use The Muscle Book in my teaching. I also recommend it to the patients in my holistic health practice as a valuable tool for self-understanding and self-help.

It is my sincere hope that this book reaches a wide audience. I know it will be valuable to anyone working with his or her body, to anyone looking for relief from minor aches and pains, and to anyone who is simply curious about the miraculous instrument called the body.

Anatomy is the study of form, in particular, the form of the miraculous creation called the human body. Effectively, anatomy is the language used to describe and discuss the body. Anatomy has become the language of the health professions, but the rest of us are seldom anatomically literate. This is most unfortunate, since being anatomically illiterate means you are illiterate about yourself. Sadly, anatomy is often taught as a dull, dry, and boring subject using intimidating, expensive books with complicated illustrations and overwhelming details; and which seldom have any practical value. Is it any wonder people avoid the study of anatomy? In reality, anatomy is a fascinating, exciting study of the incredible vehicle of consciousness that we call the body.

The body is actually one integrated, complex system-a difficult concept for our linear minds. Therefore, we tend to study the body as a group of separate systems that together create a biological machine. Two of these systems, the skeletal and muscular systems, provide the structure and movement capability of the body. The skeleton allows the body to resist the force of gravity. It allows the body to stand up, to hold a position or posture for a period of time. When building a house, carpenters first do the framing. Everything is attached to and supported by the framing. The same is true of the body-everything is attached to and supported by the skeleton. The muscular system provides movement. Muscles are the engines that move bones or that stabilize and hold bones in place. If you stand at attention, it is muscles that are holding you at attention. Without muscles, your skeleton would collapse into a pile of bones.

The better you understand anatomy, the better you understand yourself, particularly at the physical level, and you will have heightened awareness of and communication with your own body. Of the various systems of the body, the skeletal and muscular systems are probably the easiest to learn, and your knowledge will help you communicate with health-care providers, coaches, and teachers. This text provides the knowledge the non-medical person needs to learn and understand basic musculo-skeletal anatomy and apply it in simple and practical ways. The Muscle Book presents the skeletal and the muscular systems with simple line drawings that are easy to understand. Each muscle is clearly shown in relation to its skeletal attachments and functions. The common injuries of each muscle are given along with a simple system of "Finger First Aid" to help you help yourself recover from injury. You have found the ideal book to start your journey of anatomical self-discovery. Open your mind and enjoy the journey through your body in good health.