Eye Tension
The deep muscles of the cervical spine (neck) are highly innervated with proprioceptors. Proprioceptors like ruffini endings, are intrafusal fibers, lying within myofascial ‘units’. Their role is to detect the rate in change of ‘length’ in muscle/fascial tissue. This is an incredibly sophisticated sensory organ that is both innervated by afferent (sensory feedback) and efferent (motor feedforward) nerve fibers.
Because the deep muscles of the neck are so rich with sensory organs, it suggests that their role is in helping to ‘fine tune’ the alignment of the head and neck. One of the functions of proprioceptors is to provide the nervous system with feedback about the orientation of the joints (mechanoreception). The nervous system wants clarity with regards to it’s picture of the physical body as this helps optimise muscle tone and joint stiffness/mobility. Good body schema (body awareness) is a good foundation for efficient movement.
“Better information leads to better navigation.” - Eric Franklin
It’s been shown that deep cervical muscles like the longus colli (deep anterior cervical muscle), modulate their tone in response to the movement of the eyes. The eyes are the primary sensory organ for navigation. As the eyes counter-rotate with the head, it makes sense that the movements of the eyes would inform the tone and behaviour of the deep cervical musculature (1).
The subtle movements of the skull on the spine need to be communicated clearly to the surrounding muscles so functional adjustments can be made at the right time. The body in many ways is a precision machine. We are ideally oriented towards a target, whether that’s a literal target we can see or an abstract goal we’re aiming to achieve in the future.
The movements of the eyes are governed by the the extraocular muscles. If the eyes are over worked (too much blue light exposure, not enough sleep etc…), this could influence the tone of the extraocular muscles which may have a negative influence of the deep muscles of the neck.
One of my favourite ways to alleviate eye strain is with one of Eric Franklin’s eye relaxation embodiments. Click here to give it a try yourself!
Franklin Method® embodiments to relax and refresh your eyes.
My next Franklin Method® webinar, Mobilise Your Neck, Relax Your Jaw has a few spaces left! There are two dates for you to choose from (24th or 25th July).
If you’d like to learn a whole new set of exercises and embodiments to eliminate neck, shoulder, jaw and eye tension you definitely don’t want to miss out on this webinar (48 hour replay is also available after the live stream).
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References
1) The effects of eye coordination during deep cervical flexor training on the thickness of the cervical flexors. Hyun-Ju Moon, Bong-Oh Goo, Hae-Yeon Kwon, Jun-Hyeok Jang. 2015.