From Anne Asher,
Your Guide to Back & Neck Pain.
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Definition: The external obliques are a pair of abdominal muscles that lie superficial to the internal obliques. Where the fibers of the internal obliques run in an inverted V position from the bottom of the ribs to the front of the pelvis, the external obliques run in a V. The line is similar to the direction of putting your hands in your pockets.

The external obliques affect the spine, ribs and pelvis. They do several things:

• flex the trunk forward
• support and contain the abdominal contents
• function during breathing, particularly exhale
• rotate the ribs and pelvis in opposite directions from one another
• tilt the pelvis
• laterally flex the spine.

For some of these actions, the external obliques work with other abdominal muscles. This is especially true of the rotation and lateral flexion motions.