The body’s secret cross-body rope: the Spiral Line

Dear reader,

Every so often a client walks in and their body tells me a story before they do.

Not with words. With patterns.

A few months ago, one of my regulars arrived with a classic modern puzzle:

• Right shoulder: “I can’t externally rotate without pain.”

• Right piriformis: tight, guarded, a little paranoid.

• Left QL: tight like it’s holding the spine together with duct tape.

• Left rhomboid: gripping as if the shoulder blade might run away.

If you’ve ever wondered why pain appears in one place while the “tightness” lives somewhere else — this is your episode.

Because this wasn’t four separate problems.

It was one spiral.

The body’s secret cross-body rope: the Spiral Line

There’s a concept in fascial anatomy called the Spiral Myofascial Line — a cross-body system that wraps around you like a stabilising sash.

Think of it as the body’s built-in solution for staying upright when life, posture, and gravity are trying to fold you into a question mark.

Important detail: this line doesn’t behave like a straight cable.

It behaves like a protective twist.

So a right shoulder problem can be fed by a left-side back grip.

A right hip tightness can be paired with a left low-back brace.

And your nervous system nods politely and says: “Yes. This is efficient. Please do not disturb.”

Why the right shoulder couldn’t externally rotate

External rotation is supposed to be smooth: humeral head glides, scapula supports, ribcage cooperates.

But modern posture often creates a quiet bias:

• shoulders slightly forward

• chest stiff

• ribs rotated and locked

• scapula stuck in a “I’m trying my best” position

So when we ask the shoulder to externally rotate, it isn’t just rotating.

It’s negotiating with the entire torso.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

A stiff ribcage makes the shoulder pay the bill.

The shoulder tries to find rotation somewhere… and often the only available space is the front of the joint — which is exactly where pain lives.

So the shoulder doesn’t fail.

It refuses.

Why the left rhomboid got involved (and acted like a handbrake)

You might expect the tight upper back to be on the right.

But the Spiral Line loves opposites.

The left rhomboid in this story was acting like a handbrake on the shoulder girdle.

When the system senses forward-drift and rotation through the chest, it often tightens the opposite upper back to stop the whole frame collapsing forward.

Rhomboids are not always “strong muscles.”

Sometimes they are simply anxious muscles with a job title.

Why the left QL tightened: the pelvis accountant

The QL is the muscle that quietly keeps your world level when your pelvis isn’t.

If the right hip is guarding and rotation options are reduced, the pelvis subtly shifts or rotates.

And then the left QL often steps in to do the unglamorous work:

• level the pelvis

• keep the trunk upright

• stop you walking like a tired flamingo

It’s not dramatic.

It’s constant.

Like paying bills.

Why the right piriformis became the “seatbelt”

The piriformis is a deep hip rotator. It’s designed for fine control.

Modern life often forces it into a role it never auditioned for: big stabiliser.

Long sitting, driving, uneven loading, stress bracing — all of it teaches the nervous system:

“Don’t relax the hip. We need control.”

So the piriformis tightens to keep the pelvis from wobbling.

It becomes a seatbelt.

And like a seatbelt, it doesn’t loosen just because you ask nicely.

The modern trap: rotation without rotation

Here’s what I see daily:

People live in twisted positions (dominant side, phone side, driving side, sitting side)…

but they don’t move through rotation enough.

So the body adapts by turning the spiral system into:

• more tone

• less elasticity

• more protection

• less freedom

And then one day you try to externally rotate your shoulder and the system says:

“Absolutely not. We don’t do that here.”

A glimpse into our evolutionary past

Your ancestors didn’t live in squares.

They climbed, crawled, carried awkward things, walked on uneven ground, rotated constantly — naturally.

The Spiral Line was trained daily, not stretched — used.

Modern life removes the rotational diet, but keeps rotational stress.

So your spiral system becomes a tension line instead of a power line.

An ancient body improvising inside a modern chair.

What we did in JANMI terms

In JANMI work, I don’t chase the pain like it’s a criminal.

I follow the conversation.

So with this client, the goal wasn’t “fix the shoulder.”

It was:

• give the ribcage rotation again

• teach the scapula it doesn’t need a handbrake

• help the hip feel safe enough to stop seatbelting

• let the pelvis stack so the QL can retire early

And slowly, the shoulder external rotation stopped being a fight.

Not because we bullied the joint.

Because we gave the nervous system better options.

The quiet lesson

If your body has a strange cross-body pattern — shoulder on one side, hip on the same side, low back on the other — you’re not broken.

You’re organised.

Just… organised for modern survival, not natural movement.

And the good news is: organisation can change.

Sometimes it changes through movement.

Sometimes it changes through intelligent touch.

And sometimes it changes simply because someone finally listened to the pattern instead of arguing with the symptom.

Until next time,

Paulius