The Spine

Not only is the spine an extraordinary architectural masterpiece of nature, but the entire body functions as an interconnected system.

If you want your body to function in a healthy, integrated way — and in the way it was truly designed to function — do not neglect spinal work in all possible directions of movement.

This approach will not only improve your everyday life and overall health, but will also enhance any sport or physical activity you already practice or may begin in the future.

A spine that cannot move segmentally through flexion and extension cannot rotate properly.

Therefore, training rotation without first developing sufficient segmental flexion and extension will unfortunately have consequences — not only for the spine itself, but for the body as a whole.

The spine is located at the center of the human body and acts as the pillar around which the body organizes itself. It is essential for force transmission throughout the entire system.

The spine is composed of 24 bones called vertebrae, each varying in size. At birth, we have 33 vertebrae, but during development the coccygeal and sacral bones fuse together. In adults, the number of vertebrae ranges from 23 to 26, with 24 being the most common, separated by 23 intervertebral discs.

The spine contains more than 140 joints, each designed to allow a specific degree of movement.

Now imagine an injury to one of the limbs. Even if the limb is completely immobilized, many movement possibilities still remain.

However, when a problem occurs in the spine, it immediately becomes clear how limiting — even paralyzing — it can be.

Most activities in modern life do not intentionally use these spinal joints at all. The back spends most of the day in a neutral position, rounded forward, or excessively arched.

Sitting at a computer in the office, commuting by car or bicycle, sitting on the couch, looking down at a phone, tablet, book, or e-reader — even many fitness or Pilates classes focused primarily on maintaining a neutral spine — have become today’s norm and accepted “healthy” standard.

Modern and mainstream approaches fail to acknowledge the complexity of the spine and rarely utilize its multidimensional movement capabilities, which is undoubtedly a major mistake. A rigid, immobile spine that moves only in one plane — primarily the sagittal plane — is one of the most common causes of back pain and related dysfunctions (K.T. Lau, K.Y. Cheyung, et al., 2010).

A common condition known as forward head posture, especially among office workers and smartphone users, contributes to an epidemic of muscular and neurological dysfunctions (J.F. Knight, C. Baber, 2004).

Caring for this one central segment of the body — the spine — can relieve many of the problems people experience throughout the body.

This does not mean that other parts of the body are unimportant or cannot be the source of pain and restriction. However, improving the way we work with the spine leads to better organization and more efficient functioning of the entire tensegrity system that is the human body.

The spine lies at the center of the human body and serves as the pillar around which the body organizes itself. Viewed from the sagittal plane, it resembles the shape of a seahorse, with its natural curves of lordosis and kyphosis. From the front, the coccyx and sacrum resemble inverted pyramids stacked upon one another.

The spine mediates the relationship between the body’s two major centers of mass: the sacrum and the skull. The rib cage connects to the thoracic spine, protecting vital organs and enabling breathing. The vertebral column and the connective tissues surrounding it form a sophisticated structure that protects the spinal cord from shearing forces.

This ingenious design allows multidimensional movement and transforms compressive forces into tensile forces. At first glance, it may appear that the vertebrae are simply stacked on top of one another. In reality, however, the situation is very different.

The vertebrae that form the spine essentially float in space, held together by a network of connective tissues constantly generating tension, compression, and pressure forces. If the spine truly functioned as a stacked structure, it would collapse every time we bent forward. Structures held together only through continuous compression and dependence on gravity lose their integrity the moment the direction of force changes.

The entire human body is a tensegrity system — a self-supporting structure that does not depend solely on gravity to maintain its shape.

This represents a very important shift in perspective because it provides a more accurate model for understanding human movement.

To truly understand the importance of the spine in movement, we must also rethink our understanding of posture.

First, we need to stop believing in the idea of a perfectly static posture in which all body segments align in a flawless vertical line with gravity, as we are often taught. The reality is that we evolved under the constant influence of gravity. It is an unavoidable and continuous fact of our physical existence.

Our body is not a rigid object, but a living organism that changes every day — even every moment. We rarely stand completely still, upright, and perfectly aligned. Even when we appear motionless, the body is constantly making subtle muscular adjustments to maintain balance.

Every change in posture, whether on a micro or macro level, changes the orientation of body segments and centers of mass in relation to gravity. Posture is therefore not a static event, but a dynamic action.

Our alignment informs our movement, and vice versa. Proprioception is what allows us to sense and perceive the body’s position in space and the relationship between all of its parts.

Understanding the relationship between the spine, space, and gravity provides a clearer perception of the body’s overall organization and allows us to adapt and respond more effectively to rapid environmental changes.

Spinal proprioception plays a particularly important role in body control because of its interaction with the visual and vestibular systems.

A very good example is people who are considered “uncoordinated,” where it is still commonly believed that coordination cannot improve beyond a certain age.

In reality, the opposite is true.

When you begin working with your spine, learning to move it in all directions and distinguish its individual segments, remarkable changes can happen.

Unfortunately, there is currently little scientific research on this exact process. However, there are countless people — myself included — who have experienced these transformations firsthand and can confirm the validity of this approach, choosing to teach and share it with others.

Another undeniable fact is that if the spine is not mobile and actively involved in daily movement, it gradually loses its definition within both the body map and the brain map.

Likewise, if the spine is not mobile and strong, the body’s overall movement complexity becomes compromised. Over time, the body loses flexibility and elasticity — qualities often associated with youth.

If the soft tissues surrounding the spine are not accustomed to being loaded from different angles, then any unexpected force coming from an unfamiliar direction can result in injury.

Neglecting spinal care creates a weak link at the very center of the body’s structure, inevitably affecting overall movement quality.

In recent years, more and more neurological research has focused on changes in human movement, and thanks to emerging complex movement practices, it is becoming increasingly clear that we need a global shift in the way we perceive the body.

A good example is the mainstream fitness, yoga, and Pilates boom, where the spine is often approached superficially — and honestly, primarily through a protective mindset.

Everywhere we hear things like: “You should never load the spine in flexion,” “You should not move the spine in this plane,” “Too much extension is dangerous,” or “Your spine is too mobile if you can touch the floor with your hands.”

These commonly repeated opinions are often overly narrow and disconnected from the true functioning and needs of the human body for healthy movement and long-term resilience.

When physical training focuses mainly on isolated muscle work, aesthetics, and appearance — while ignoring range of motion and movement complexity — it fails to provide the body with the diversity of input it truly requires and completely overlooks the process of human evolution.

The human body is an extraordinary complex system that craves diverse information and challenges on both a physical and cognitive level.

Our ability to think and create is deeply connected to our capacity for complex movement.

That is why it is important to honestly ask ourselves why we continue to be sold the illusion that a linear, boxed-in system can satisfy all the needs of the human body in today’s technology-driven world.