Alignment and Tensegrity

Most people who know me probably assume that I consider diet to be the single most misunderstood and neglected element to health today.  This is not the case.  I believe that there is another element, one that is utterly important to general health and is almost completely absent from popular sports science.

This element is alignment.

When understanding the importance of correct alignment, it's helpful to think of the body as a structure that has "tensegrity".  Tensegrity basically refers to the fact that all the elements of our body are connected and have a very strong effect on each other.

Try this:

A) Make a fist as strong as you can with your hand in front of you in a neutral position.  That probably feels pretty solid and strong.

B) Next, bend the back of your hand back towards you.  Make a fist as strong as you can.  Can you tell the massive difference in grip strength between these two positions?

(Now imagine a situation wherein you placed your hands in this compromised, bent back position and moved your fingers rapidly for a long period of time.  That sounds like it would hurt and be unhealthy, doesn't it?  Welcome to the computer era...)

The above illustrates the concept of tensegrity as I understand it rather well.  When the muscles of the wrist and forearm are stretched already, they have far less contractile power than they do in a neutral position.  The position, condition, and nerve memory of the muscles and connective fascia in one part of the body have a large impact on the functionality of other body parts (and the body as a whole)!

Here's another example:  If you sit all day at a desk, you're likely to develop chronically tight hip flexors and psoas muscles.  These are the muscles on the front of and inside your hip cradle that connect your legs to your torso (an oversimplification).  As these muscles learn to stay tight, they pull on our pelvis and cause a forward pelvic tilt.  Well, our body knows that we can't walk around tilted ridiculously far forward, so it adjusts.  In this case it's likely that the lower back muscles will go into overtime mode to bring our upper body back over our center of gravity.  According to one source, half of working (read: 'sitting') Americans experience back pain every year.  In the above example, the tight hip flexors and psoas muscles become a catalyst for lower back problems (and probably a myriad of other issues all over the body). 

Chronic pain is not natural, even though it might be the norm.  Improper alignment will eventually result in health problems and chronic pain.  In the meantime, it will rob you of flexibility and optimal performance in a number of areas.  Alignment can be improved upon, and we will definitely write about this subject more in the future.  It's time to turn the lens of awareness to this aspect of fitness.


-Brant