Anna Folckomer: Internal Abdominal Oblique Muscle and Stability

When considering the IAO, don’t just think ‘abdomen.’ Anna Folckomer shows you how connections with the back and thoracolumbar fascia create core stability.

Your IAO—we’re using IAO for internal abdominal oblique—exists in your back. That’s huge, because as a clinician, a lot of times we hear people saying, “Oh my QL, my QL.”

Everything is QL these days. But it’s not always QL. It actually can be IAO or other structures in the back.

Another important feature of the fact that this exists in the back is that it attaches to the anterior layer or the thoracolumbar fascia or the deep layer of the thoracolumbar fascia—whichever you’re more comfortable using.

This is hugely important. It makes this muscle an intrinsic core stability muscle. One of the rules of intrinsic stability is that it has to attach to the anterior layer of the thoracolumbar fascia, and IAO does.

IAO exists in synergy with transversus abdominis or TVA. They are best friends. In fact, they have a neuromuscular bundle in between the two, so if something becomes compromised, it will actually cut off its own blood and nerve supply to keep it in check. They’re existing synergistically.

The importance of IAO attaching all the way to the iliac crest and down into the pubis is that this is where we’re going to receive force transfer into the hip and into the lower extremity. We have force generation in the abdomen that’s going to be transmitted through the hip into the lower extremity for power. We’re going to stabilize, and then we’re going to ambulate.

Need more ‘hands-on’ anatomy with Anna Folckomer and Kathy Dooley?
This video was a sample from Immaculate Dissection:
Functional Anatomy Featuring Body Painting.
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