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The arrow family — six ways of working one strip of back
Tool, path, direction, count — the four things that separate them
Six treatments follow, one family: strokes run along or beside the spinal column, differing in exactly four things — what tool, what path, which direction, how it is counted.
They also share a set of glyphs, and this is the first group in the atlas where a point is likely to be met drawn rather than spelled. The full plate is in The Shorthand, "The Shorthand"; below is the family's own corner of it, described in words.
The six glyphs of the arrow family, described in words
Drawn on the card · Read it as · How it is drawn
\ ° / — also written ↖o↗ · Back arrow · A small circle with a stroke leaning away from it on each side, up-left and up-right, like two arms opening. Often preceded by three small arrows in a row
↑o↑ · H arrow · Two upward arrows with a small circle between them. Both heads point up
A ring-topped stem with a downward arrowhead · On the spine · A short stem, a small open ring at the top, an arrowhead below pointing down
↕ ° ↕ · Beside the spine · A double-headed vertical arrow, a ring-topped stem, a second double-headed arrow — the arrows standing either side of the stem, as the fingers stand either side of the spine
↑ \ · ↓ · Round arrow · An upward arrow, a plain vertical bar, a downward arrow, side by side
A plain ring-topped stem with no arrowhead at all · Up Arrow · The bare ring-and-stem. A different point, and not in this article — see Uncommon Problems
Three rules for reading them. An arrowhead shows the direction of your own push, never a flow inside the patient. The presence or absence of the head changes the point — ring-stem with a downward head is On the spine, the same stem bare is Up Arrow. And the number of heads is the number of directions the stroke travels.
BACK ARROW — बेक एरो
Its other name is Blood supply to lungs, because it increases blood circulation in the lungs. It is given in all breathing-related diseases.
With the soft part of the sole of the foot — from the middle of the back toward the shoulder, and from the shoulder to the middle part of the upper arm — do light rubbing (ghisāī). First the left side, then the right side.
Its symbol is → → → ↖o↗
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest Prone |
|---|---|
| Where the feet are placed | The soft part of the sole — not the heel — middle of the back → shoulder, then shoulder → middle of the upper arm |
| Duration and repetitions | Light rubbing (ghisāī); first the left side, then the right side Left Right |
| What it is for | Increasing blood circulation in the lungs; given in all breathing-related diseases |
Two words in that instruction are the safety of the point — soft part of the sole, never the heel, and light. The route is one continuous sweep in two halves, and the order is written: left side first, then right. (Figure 21.4)
What lies beneath. The big diamond of muscle across the upper back, the muscles binding the shoulder blade to the spine, the cap over the point of the shoulder — and under the inner edge of the shoulder blade, the ribs, with the top of the lung rising higher than most students expect. And the claim, once, since it recurs: pulmonary blood flow is set by the heart and the lungs' own vessels, not by a hand on a back. What a sweep can do is loosen a chest wall that has been working hard — worth having alongside a patient's inhaler, never instead of it.
H ARROW — ऐच एरो
Between both shoulders, on both sides of the C7 cervical bone, rub from below upward.
The count is three equal one.
Its symbol is ↑o↑
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest, the chin resting Prone |
|---|---|
| Where the hands are placed | Between both shoulders, on both sides of the C7 cervical bone |
| Duration and repetitions | Rub from below upward; the count is three equal one |
| What it is for | Not separately stated |
The count catches people. Three equal one — three upward strokes make one of what the card asks, so (4) H arrow is twelve strokes, not four. And the direction is one-way: from below upward, with no return stroke written, unlike the two points that follow.
ON THE SPINE — ओन द स्पाइन
On the spinal column, with the edge of your big thumb, rub from the neck down to the L5 bone, and then from below L5 upward to T1.
If there is a slight unevenness (उतार-चढ़ाव) between the beads, this helps to correct them.
See the picture for how to place the hand and fingers on their back.
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest Prone |
|---|---|
| Where the hands are placed | The edge of the big thumb, on the spinal column — riding the beads |
| Duration and repetitions | Rub from the neck down to the L5 bone, then from below L5 upward to T1; the number written on the card governs |
| What it is for | Where there is a slight unevenness between the beads, it helps to correct them |
The tool is the edge of the thumb, not its pad — the firm border from knuckle to nail, which can follow a row of knobs where the pad would slip off. Down, then up, and the two ends differ: down from the neck to L5, back up from below L5 to T1 — a return that stops short of where it started.
BESIDE THE SPINE — बिसाइड द स्पाइन
Place your first finger and middle finger so that they lie on both sides of the spinal column. Then, pressing those fingers with a little pressure downward and inward into the back, rub from the neck down to the L5 bone, and — without lifting the hand — then from L5 upward to the C7 bone.
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest Prone |
|---|---|
| Where the hands are placed | The first finger and middle finger on both sides of the spinal column, pressed with a little pressure downward and inward into the back |
| Duration and repetitions | Rub from the neck down to the L5 bone, and, without lifting the hand, from L5 upward to the C7 bone; the number written on the card governs |
| What it is for | Not separately stated at the point. Elsewhere the aim is given as stimulating the 31 pairs of spinal nerves that lie on both sides of the backbone |
The two fingers straddle the column, spread just enough that the beads run between them — nothing rides the beads, which is the whole difference between this point and the one before it. The pressure has two components and both are written: downward into the back, and inward toward the midline; and the hand does not lift at the turn, so the return drags the tissue the opposite way over ground already loaded.
Note the upper end, and note that it differs. On the spine returns to T1; Beside the spine to C7, one bead higher. Both are given as written.
What runs along and beside the spine, and why the therapy works it so heavily
The column.
Twenty-four movable bones — seven in the neck, twelve in the chest, five in the low back — then the sacrum, five bones fused into one triangular plate, and the tail bone. What the thumb rides is the row of backward spurs; the blocks that carry the weight, the cushions and the turning joints lie deeper and in front.
The thirty-one pairs of nerves. Along the whole cord, nerves leave in pairs, one left and one right, through small openings between the bones: thirty-one pairs — eight in the neck, twelve in the chest, five in the low back, five at the sacrum, one at the tail bone. Each is formed where two roots join, one carrying sensation in, one carrying orders out. Everything you feel and everything you move travels one of those thirty-one routes.
And every one divides at once. Within a finger's breadth of leaving the bone each nerve splits. The larger branch turns forward, becoming the nerves of the chest wall, belly wall and limbs. The smaller branch turns backward — and that is what this article is about: it supplies the deep muscles that hold the spine upright, the small joints between the beads, and a strip of skin either side of the midline. Work the gutter beside the spine and those backward branches are under your finger. They also carry pain from the back's own joints and muscles, which is why tenderness beside the spine is so common and so easily reproduced.
The lanes of muscle. Beside the beads runs a long column each side — three ropes inside a strong fibrous sheet — and beneath them short deep muscles running slantwise from one bead to another: the spine's own steadying system, packed with the tiny sense organs that report how much a muscle is stretched. The most densely reported-on piece of muscle in the body.
And the honest boundary. On the front face of the column runs the great chain of the alarm system and the nerves reaching the organs of the belly — the real fact behind "the spine influences the organs", and in the same breath the reason no hand on a back reaches that chain. What can be said honestly is that steady, firm, repeated pressure into this strip reliably reduces how much pain a person feels, locally and at sites away from the hand. A real effect at a real site, needing no claim that a bone was moved.
ROUND ARROW — राउंड एरो
The rubbing is done with the edge of your big thumb. Starting from below the neck, on the right side of the spinal column, giving inward pressure on each bead and pressing the nerves below, rub down as far as the L5 bone; then, without lifting the finger, come up the left side of the spinal column, from below upward to the neck.
Take care that each time the pressure falls on the side of the beads.
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest Prone |
|---|---|
| Where the hands are placed | The edge of the big thumb, right side of the column, below the neck down to L5; then, without lifting the finger, up the left side to the neck. Inward pressure on each bead, pressing the nerves below Right Left |
| Duration and repetitions | One continuous circuit — right side down, left side up; the number written on the card governs |
| What it is for | Not separately stated at the point; the emphasis is that each time the pressure falls on the side of the beads |
The "round" is the shape of the journey: down one side, round at L5, up the other, the thumb never leaving the skin. Right side down, left side up is written. What lies beneath is as under Beside the spine; the force is aimed into the angle between the bead and the muscle beside it.
3 ARROWS
If On the spine, Beside the spine and Round arrow are all three to be given, we call it "3 arrows" as a shortcut. Each one is to be given as many times as the number written.
| Patient's position | Prone, 1½ pillows under the chest Prone |
|---|---|
| What it consists of | On the spine, Beside the spine and Round arrow — all three |
| Duration and repetitions | Each one is given as many times as the number written; the number is not divided among the three |
| What it is for | A shortcut in the writing, not a separate treatment |
Shorthands are where doses get lost. (6) 3 arrows means six On the spine, six Beside the spine, six Round arrow — eighteen passes.
ORGAN CLEARANCE
This treatment can be given lying prone or seated on a chair. Sitting on their left side, place your palm on their back so that the fingers point toward the side of the body and the big thumb points toward the head. (See the figure.) Do it at each place as many times as the number given.
First, following the vertical arrows of the left figure, rub lightly over and around the spinal column — from above downward, and then, without lifting the hand, from below upward as well.
Then, following the horizontal arrows of the right figure, rub from right to left and from left to right.
Begin from behind the neck and descend at very small intervals.
If (10) Organ clearance is written, do it ten times at every place.
| Patient's position | Lying prone with 1½ pillows under the chest, or seated on a chair; the therapist sitting on the patient's left side Prone Seated |
|---|---|
| Where the hands are placed | The palm on the back, fingers toward the side of the body, big thumb toward the head. Vertical strokes over and around the column, down and, without lifting the hand, up; then horizontal, right to left and left to right |
| Duration and repetitions | Begin from behind the neck and descend at very small intervals, doing it at each place as many times as the number given — if (10) Organ clearance is written, do it ten times at every place |
| What it is for | Not separately stated; the rubbing is to be light |
The only treatment in the group covering the whole back rather than a named level, and the only one that may be given either face down or in a chair. The hand's stated orientation lets it run both ways without being repositioned.
"At very small intervals" is the count you are most likely to break. (10) Organ clearance is not ten strokes on a back; it is ten at the first station behind the neck, ten at the next, all the way down. And the name: clearance invites a story about waste being flushed out by rubbing, which measurement does not support. What is well supported is broader — slow, repeated contact over a large area settles a person. That is what an honest therapist says it does.
Sudhakar — the back treatment for which no method is given
A name that outruns its method, and a silence left standing
One more treatment belongs to this strip of back, and a student will meet it on a card long before they meet it in a article. It is called Sudhakar, after the patient in whom it was worked out, and this is the whole of what the therapy says about it: in this treatment, the muscles around all the vertebrae of the back are moved and brought to their correct place, and it is beneficial for the neck, the back, and all pains.
That is the entry, and it is an entry about what the treatment does, not about how a pair of hands does it. No tool, no path, no direction, no count and no order is given for Sudhakar anywhere. The six arrows above each name the edge of the thumb or the two fingers or the soft sole, the station it starts from, the station it ends at and the way the number on the card is spent. Sudhakar names none of these, and none is supplied here.
So the honest position for a therapist is this. You may read the card and know what is wanted — every vertebra of the back, the muscles around it moved and set back in place, for the neck, the back and all pains. You may not read it and know what to do with your hands, and a treatment reconstructed out of that description would be your own work under somebody else's name. Where a card says Sudhakar and you have not been shown it hand to hand, give the treatments of this article that do carry their method — the three arrows over the same territory, Organ clearance over the whole of it — and write on the card what you gave.
This is not the only place in the therapy where a name outruns its method, and the wiki does not close such a gap by filling it in. The material's own silences are left standing exactly where they stand, in the same way as its perhaps, its nowadays and its research is still going on.