Brainz

In laymen’s term the Multifidus can be considered to function as the guard and support of the spine. It is the “twin cords” of muscle that flank the spinal column from around the base of the skull till the below the lower back. Despite their seaming to be made of only 2 cords one muscle, one on either side of the spine, they are in fact composed of many cords of muscles that each only make up a fraction of the whole. These muscles are tendinous and fleshy.

Now technically the muscle fibers that make up the multifidus are the fascicles. Each fascicle will connect a vertebra to the next or possibly to the next or the one after that even. The length of each fascicle and hence the distance between connected vertebra is determined by the weight that needs to be carried. Thus those fascicles connecting the lower vertebra only extend as far as the next vertebra and as the weight to be bore decreases the distance that a fascicle will extend shall also increase, by the time it gets to the axis it will have extended such as to skip over 2 other vertebral columns. Bridging the sacrum to the axis the multifidus is designed to help maintain the integrity of the each vertebra.

Because of the continues and significant stresses that the human body is put through everyday, the Multifidus is necessary to maintain the integrity of the vertebra, its connecting joints, and to hold together the different regions of the spine.