As has been well established, your body is an incredible compensator. If a person lacks mobility at one joint, your body will get it elsewhere. If you are born with only a fibula, it will morph due to mechanical demands to resemble the tibia. If your body needs stability core stability, but the “core stabilizers” are weak or inhibited, some muscle will kick on to pick up the lack.

Recently, while listening to the Strength Coach Podcast, this point was reiterated once again. Darcy Norman in his evaluation of the FMS said he began to look more into the results of some of the tests with his cyclists, and noted that the inability to maintain the arms overhead during the deep squat was due to short latissimus dorsi muscles. Darcy further hypothesized that the the cyclists were using the lats as a method of compensating for a lack of core stability.

While it is something that has not been discussed ad neausem yet, it’s definitely something to consider with your evaluations.

Lat Anatomy

The latissimus dorsi spans from the spinous processes of the thoracic T7-T12 and inferior angle of the scapula down to the iliac crest with attachments to the inferior four ribs and a connection to the thoracolumbar fascia. It is also a muscle of the posterior oblique sling that is connected contralaterally to the gluteus maximus via the thoracolumbar fascia. The aponeruosis of the latissimus dorsi forms the superficial posterior layer of the TLF that runs in a caudomedial fashion to the midline where it connects the the suprspinal ligaments and spinous process of vertebrae L1-L4. Additionally, the lat interdigitates with the external obliques at the ribs, which can lead to complementary innervation.

It should now make sense that increased tone of the latissimus dorsi can assist in stabilizing the lumbar spine through thoracolumbar fascia tension and with innervation of the EO.

While it is definitely a good compensation when core stability is lacking, it also interferes with appropriate function of the shoulder due to it’s insertion on the humerus and exogenous tone can lead to pain via TLF tension.

Correction

At Boddicker Performance we use several techniques to open up the lats. Take a look.

Best,

Carson Boddicker