What is Tensegrity MedicineTM?
To understand Tensegrity MedicineTM, one needs to understand fascia or the connective tissue system. Hopefully you read the "What is fascia?" tab. If not, I highly suggest checking it out.
To review, fascia is a 3-dimensional connective tissue network penetrating and surrounding our muscles, organs, joints, nerves, and vessels. It has receptors embedded it in that allows it to communicate with itself and the nervous system and allows the body to operate in an integrated manner.
Tensegrity comes from the terms "tension" and "integrity." Biotensegrity refers to the tension and integrity of biological tissues and it explains how flowers and trees can survive in windy conditions and it explains how our fascia functions to keep us upright in gravity and transmits forces during movement.
Tensegrity MedicineTM is an approach for assessing and treating the whole person based on a biotensegrity paradigm. Assuming there is optimal health, the fascial network in each one of us is masterfully shaped by our lifestyle habits and belief systems and usually adapts easily to our daily life giving us resiliency in our bodily systems. Over time, however, due to stresses endured, the fascial network can become restricted in areas limiting our full potential for motion, function, and overall well-being. Tensegrity Medicine methods will help 3 dimensionally balance our fascial network of tension and compression and unveil our full potential for human functioning.
For example, because of the unique fascial network, this means that 10 people can have the same diagnosis, but they all may have different tension and compression forces in the global system due to injury, scars, trauma, compensatory movement patterns, emotional holding patterns, or repetitive postural patterns that lead to the same pathology. Locating the area of greatest restriction in the fascial network requires unique biotensegral evaluation as these restrictions do not appear on imaging, such as X-rays or MRIs, and often times the site of pain or dysfunction is not where the fascia/connective tissue is most compromised. Once the restrictions are located, biotensegral based manual and movement therapy, body mind techniques, and higher level activity of daily living activities are implemented to not only address the restriction but also to encourage the tissue to maintain its new 'home'.
Check out tensegritymedicine.com and view my instructor's videos below.
Introduction to Tensegrity Medicine
Above is a biotensegrity model and it represents our architecture in all scales of the body - molecular, tissue, organs. It is held together by tension and compression. The tension and compression influences mechanical and biochemical effects in our body.
“Fascia is the organ of posture. The body is a web of fascia. A spiderweb is in a plane. This web is in a sphere. We can trace the lines of that web to get an understanding of how what we see in a body works.” - Ida P. Rolf, PhD
What does this mean for you?
Some individuals have been told their only option is surgery or to "deal" with it or "it's your age". More than likely their fascia has not been fully explored to determine where the area of restriction/s is/are which cause increased tension in other areas. If someone has a tendinitis diagnosis in their hand/wrist, perhaps the fascial restriction is in the shoulder or opposite hip, which doesn't allow proper function of hand/wrist. We are one big piece of connective tissue. Likewise, if someone has "wore out" the bone (ie. arthritis, degenerative changes), it may be that there is a fascial restriction causing dysfunctional tension and compression patterns which lead to bones compressing each other over long periods of time. While pain and anti-inflammatory medications, injections, taping, and other modalities have their place to provide a window of opportunity for healing to occur, the restriction may still need to be fully addressed or the cycle repeats itself in the same area or surfaces in other areas. Our cells renew every day, so given a healing environment, these new cells can continue to flourish.
If you have 12 minutes, please check out this video which will help explain these concepts.
Here are some additional websites/videos to check out:
https://www.facebook.com/FasciaSymposium/videos/1611168102238653/
http://www.structuralmedicine.com