Available now: The all new Anatomy Trains 2nd edition, featuring revolutionary new insights and all-new artwork, accompanied by an interactive DVD

Anatomy Trains is a practical anatomy guide for manual and movement therapists. The new edition includes many updates and an interactive  DVD that expand everyone’s understanding in the musculor-skeletal system as it relates to bodywork, movement and integrative medicine

Anatomy Trains presents Thomas Myers’ unique, ‘whole systems’ views on functional anatomy and especially the body-wide connections among the muscles within the fascial net. The first edition has been translated into six languages (German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Korean, with Japanese coming soon) and with more than 50,000 copies of the first edition sold, Anatomy Trains has become one of the standard manuals on human anatomy for somatic practitioners – blending embryology, development, evolution, and functional anatomy in a read that provides basic insights to the neophyte as well as challenging concepts to the experienced practitioner.

The second edition includes numerous updates including important new findings in recent fascial research, photos of the Anatomy Trains myofascial meridians dissected, new appendices on Structural Integration protocols based on the Anatomy Trains concept, and a comparison of the myofascial meridians with the meridians of acupuncture. The entire book is now in 4-color, including all new artwork from the prominent British anatomical artists Philip Wilson and Deborah Maizels, whose previous work was with the latest edition of Gray’s Anatomy. The new edition also benefits from new web links and includes an interactive DVD with animations of the Anatomy Trains lines, fascial release techniques, and dissection videos.

Since the first edition, Myers has expanded his classroom world wide to include courses in fascial technique and visual assessment that go beyond standard and advanced structural integration into what he calls ‘Spatial Medicine’. His insights and teachings of functional anatomy shed light on how the body moves and stabilizes, and on how to spot the visual clues for compensatory pattern recognition. Myers’ Anatomy Trains concepts have demonstrated appeal to a wider audience of practitioners, including massage therapists, structural integration practitioners, acupuncturists, chiropractors, cranial sacral therapists, osteopaths, physical therapists, Pilates therapists, yoga therapists, athletic trainers, as well as dance and movement teachers. The section on BodyReading (visual assessment) has been expanded and clarified with all new client photos (which are also on the DVD) for more effective practice with assessment skills.

“This second edition is much more than just a reprint of the first edition, as our base of knowledge has grown on a daily basis since I started this project,” said Thomas Myers, author of Anatomy Trains and director of Kinesis, Inc. “I am especially pleased with the support I received from all of the people who made this possible, from the graphics artists and publisher to my teachers, clients, and students who continually push me to refine my language, techniques and approach to better understand the human body, health and healing. We stand at the edge of a new understanding of just how movement and stability interact via the neuro-myofascial web.  I anticipate that this will lead to new modes of healing and a new physical education for the 21st century.”

The Superficial Back Arm Line - fresh tissue dissection

The Anatomy Trains concept, devised by Thomas Myers, provides useful language describing the ‘anatomy of connection’ in which muscles are functionally linked in series through the unity of the fascial network that runs throughout the body; muscles work as an integrated system rather than as individual units. The 'Anatomy Trains' myofascial meridians provide a revolutionary map for analyzing whole-body soft-tissue patterns that leads to positive new strategies for unwinding these patterns via manipulation and movement-oriented work.