Ortho-Bionomy, an Understanding of the Body as a Tensegrity Structure

When we think of the word structure, what often comes to mind is the image of a building. And the buildings our culture makes, in their familiarity and stability, can become an analogy for us for anything stable; we tend to perceive the world around us through the lens of the ideal building as we know it. In our imagination any stable object has a foundation, vertical supports, and immobilizing joinery of some kind to make it coherent and strong. When looking at the body from this model, we see the bones as the structural members and the soft tissues as simply sheathing or at best as guy wires.

But the body is not grown on that model, and to see it through those concepts makes it harder for us to perceive the amazing principles upon which the structure of the body is based. This makes it hard for us to think about our interactions with bodies—our own and those of others—clearly. The effects we have when we do our work begin to seem mysterious, when they are, instead, direct and clear results of interaction with the kind of system a body actually is.

Clearly, the body is made to move and a building is not, but that is not the whole story of the difference between the two.

The first structural difference between the body and a building that comes to mind is that the body has no straight lines. When a building is constructed, great effort is expended to make sure that the lines are straight, the angles are right, and everything lines up. The lines of force travel directly through the supporting members, and those members are placed directly upon each other to facilitate the transfer of weight and force down into the foundation and then the ground. In the body, on the other hand, the weight never goes directly into any of the structural parts, but travels through them obliquely, in curves and spirals.

Another obvious difference is seen in the contact with the ground. The foundation of a building is large, flat, and massive, to spread out the weight of the building and resist its compressive force. The body, on the other hand, has relatively small and delicate feet, which only touch the ground with part of their bottom surface.

Not all human constructions are built entirely on rectilinear and compressive principles. Keystone arches, for instance, transmit weight in lines that are not straight, but they are still compression-based. A suspension bridge is not entirely compressive in structure. It has guy wires maintaining its position through tension. But it would be unstable if placed upside down or in any orientation other than the one it is built in. The earth below it is a necessary element of its integrity.

These are only a few examples of a general principle. What's going on here? The body is not built on the principle of compression, directly resisting the downward force of gravity as a building is. The body is a tensegrity structure. It utilizes inward pull and outward push working against each other in concert, rather than downward compression, for its integrity.

The difference between a compressive structure and a tensegrity structure can be seen in the comparison of an old-fashioned wooden wagon wheel with a bicycle wheel. In a wooden wheel, the spokes are compressive members. They work as individuals; the one or two spokes pointing down at any given moment hold the weight of the wagon, and they must be massive enough to do so. In a bicycle wheel, the spokes are tension members. A single spoke would be deformed or collapsed by the weight of the bike upon it. Together they are able to hold the rim in a stable relationship with the hub. The weight never goes directly through any one spoke; as long as they all hold appropriate tension they all work together to maintain the coherence of the system.

"The great structural systems of Universe are accomplished by islanded compression and omnicontinuous tension. Tensegrity is a contraction of tensional integrity structuring." R. Buckminster Fuller

Islanded compression and omnicontinuous tension. In other words, discrete individual compressive members suspended in and giving shape to a continuous web holding tension in all directions. Bones are the compressive elements embedded in the membrane of the fascial system. The skin, tendons, and ligaments are components of the tension membrane, acting in concert with the fascial system, and are, in fact, contiguous with it.

A tensegrity structure is stable in any relationship with gravity, as opposed to a traditional building, which would collapse if laid on its side. The forces applied to such a structure are dissipated through the structure in circuitous paths that protect the weak parts. Force going through the structure reshapes the entire structure and in its new shape it can be stronger than it was in its unstressed configuration.

Since the tension members are omnicontinuous, there is a reciprocity in a tensegrity structure that does not occur in a building. In a building, a flaw in the foundation will affect the whole building but a flaw in the roof can be inconsequential beyond its effect on the roof itself. But in a body, not only can an injured foot affect any other part of the body by creating a pattern that has global effects, but an injury to, say, the neck can create a pattern that involves the feet. It is not just that one holds a compensation pattern to protect the injured part, but that the entire structure changes shape a to a certain extent in response to the force that created the injury.

What does this all mean for us as bodies and as bodyworkers? How do I relate to a body differently when I understand it as a tensegrity structure rather than as a compressive structure?

Much of this understanding has already been included in Ortho-Bionomy for us by the Founder, Arthur Lincoln Pauls. We do not expect linearity in our work, and we constantly speak of balance. But do we understand that balance as a matrix of internal relationships in the body, not just a relationship to gravity? When we palpate an indicator point do we understand that the tissues under our fingers are part of the system of structural relationships of the body part with which we are consciously working? Or do we wonder, "Why that point? How the heck will I remember that?" In my case, a lot of the details of my understanding are nonverbal and intuitive, deriving from my experience as a mover, most of which is unconscious. This understanding is not readily translated into specifics that can be told to another. It is only the points that I have explicitly felt in my own body that I remember easily. In Arthur's case, I presume the extraordinary degree of specificity in his understanding of the interwovenness of the body's structure derived from both his judo practice and especially from the extensive study of anatomy he must have undergone as a student and practitioner of osteopathy. He then translated many of the details of his understanding into a set of points we could use without memorizing every ligament and tendon in the body. He also gave us ways of listening to and interacting with the body that are congruent with understanding the body as a complex interconnected sheath of tension membrane pulling in on bones which are pushing out.

If we think about a specific body structure, how it is composed and how it functions, in the light of tensegrity principles, what we do may become less mysterious.

The pelvis is a good example. The sacrum is generally thought of as a compressive member, akin to the keystone of an arch, receiving the weight of the spine (and of the head and arms through the spine) and transmitting it through the pelvis to the columns of the legs. The sacrum is perceived as locked into its base, the pelvis, by gravity. If this model were true, the sacrum would not stay in place during embryogenesis or while crawling, or during sleep. While standing, it would be crushed by the pressure of the spine, especially if the arms are used while held away from the body. The head of the femur would smash into and compress the spongy bone of the acetabulum.

Instead, like a person in a hammock, the sacrum is actually suspended in the pelvis by ligaments including the sacrospinous, sacrotuberous, and sacroiliac ligaments. These ligaments, which are given shape by the bones of the pelvis, along with other soft tissue components of the pelvic system, transmit the force of the upper body around and through the bones of the pelvis and the heads of the femurs, and down the legs. The sacrum is not held in place by gravity, as the keystone of an arch would be. It works just fine if you stand on one leg or on your head.

When we are rebalancing a pelvis, we are working with many ligaments in many axes, as you know from experience. We are not just moving the bones to optimal positions or releasing the tension in specific ligaments, we are balancing an entire tissue pattern of reciprocal tension membranes anchored around stabilizing bones with complex and intriguing shapes. No wonder it's such a fascinating and aesthetically engaging process.

These same principles are active in the body at every level of organization, and can be seen in all its structures from smallest to largest. The underlying geometry of omnidirectional reception and transmission of force is seen in the molecules and the cells as well as in the skeleton as we have examined in this article. It is a lovely example of evolvement of the original concept!

Those who want some more detail may enjoy these articles and web sites:

http://futurepositive.synearth.net/2002/03/07
This explanation of tensegrity is part of a web site devoted to changing the world in the direction of responsible cooperation.

http://www.tensegrity.com/
Photos and diagrams of geometric tensegrity structures.

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/toc/toc.html
Bucky Fuller's entire book, Synergetics.

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s07/p0000.html
Bucky's specific writing on tensegrity, from Synergetics.

http://intelligentbody.org.uk/PaulLeeReview.php
This review of an osteopathy conference held in England earlier this year looks at the body as a tensegrity.

http://www.ati-net.com/articles/levin.php
An address made before the North American Academy of Manipulative Medicine