A novel posterolateral inter-muscular approach has been developed to access the cervical spine. The approach includes elevating the splenius capitis and trapezius muscles dorsally to create a window for deep spine access, wherein the window comprises:



i) an anterior superior border of the trapezius muscle;
ii) an anterior inferior border of the splenius capitis muscle, and
iii) a posterior superior border of the levator scapulae muscle.




Preferably, a device such as an implant or an instrument is then passed through the window to manipulate the spine.