Arms or Front Legs?

We think our arms hang from our shoulders but in fact, we have reflexes in our arms that support the body. When we interfere with the supporting reflexes in the arms, the arms do not support themselves easily and feel as though they hang heavily from the shoulders. Our arms support us not only when we are on all fours but also when our hands are not in contact with the ground. As discussed in my previous blog 'A Look At Gravity', the skeleton conducts support to parts of the body that are not in contact with the ground. Conscious awareness of this possibility activates the supporting reflexes. The supporting reflexes are then available for use and our hands have the potential to support our arms.

The brain and the nervous system are vital factors of all movement. The brain executes a command for movement; the nerves send the command to the muscles. The collective action of muscle and nerve maintains muscular tone. When this is consciously realised and the reflexes of support are dynamically organised, we can allow our shoulders to float. When our shoulders float, it takes the drag of our arms, scapulae and clavicle off the ribs and ultimately off the spine. In this way, our reflexes of support indicate a four-legged structure that comes from vertical climbing. When the reflexes are active, our hands and our arms have the capacity to support our shoulders. Not only do our feet and legs support the spine but our hands and arms also support the spine.

In 1932 F. M. Alexander (The Use of the Self, Gollancz,1990, p.21) discusses the problems of conscious awareness and the separation of the mental and physical:

“I must admit that when I began my investigation, I, in common with most people, conceived of ‘body’ and ‘mind’ as separate parts of the same organism, and consequently believed that human ills, difficulties and shortcomings could be classified as either ‘mental’ or ‘physical’ and dealt with on specifically ‘mental’ or specifically ‘physical’ lines. My practical experien­ces, however, led me to abandon this point of view and readers of my books will be aware that the technique described in them is based on the opposite conception, namely, that it is impossible to separate ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ processes in any form of human activity.”

He goes on to say (p.22):

“…it is possible during a course of lessons to demonstrate to the pupil how the mental and physical work together in the use of the self in all activity.”

He adds as a footnote (p.22):

“I wish to make it clear that when I employ the word ‘use’, it is not in that limited sense of the use of any specific part, as, for instance, when we speak of the use of an arm or the use of a leg, but in a much wider and more comprehensive sense applying to the working of the organism in general. For I recognize that the use of any specific part such as the arm or leg involves of necessity bringing into action the different psycho-physical mechanisms of the organism, this concerted activity bringing about the use of the specific part.”

He asks the question (p.35):

“This led me to a long consideration of the whole question of the direction of the use of myself. ‘What is this direction,’ I asked myself, ‘upon which I have been depending?”

Concluding with the footnote (p.35):

“When I employ the words ‘direction’ and ‘directed’ with ‘use’ in such phrases as ‘direction of my use’ and ‘I directed the use’, etc. I wish to indicate the process involved in projecting messages from the brain to the mechanisms and in conducting the energy necessary to the use of these mechanisms.”

Therefore, we can say that when we allow the feet to be in a fully supporting reaction with the floor, the head, neck and back can be in an appropriate dynamic relationship, everything else works in a more co-ordinated, efficient way. The neck is be allowed to be free so that the head can be supported in a balance forward and upward in such a way that allows the spine to lengthen and the torso is able to release and widen.

A Look At Gravity

Let us begin at the beginning with Newton who said that action and reaction are equal and opposite. This means that every push must be matched and balanced by an equal and opposite push. It does not matter how the push arises. It may be a ‘dead’ load for instance: that is to say a stationary weight of some kind. If I weigh 200 pounds and stand on the floor, then the soles of my feet push downwards on the floor with a push or thrust of 200 pounds: that is the business of feet. At the same time the floor must push upwards on my feet with a thrust of 200 pounds: that is the business of floors. If the floor is rotten and cannot furnish a thrust of 200 pounds then I shall fall through the floor. If, however, by some miracle, the floor produced a larger thrust than my feet have called upon it to produce, say 201 pounds, then the result would be still more surprising because, of course, I should become airborne.

(J. E. Gordon 1991, p.28)

Newton’s third law of motion is that action and reaction are always equal and always opposite in direction. In other words if your feet push down on the floor then the floor must push up on your feet with equal force of support. See Khan Academy for a more entertaining description of Newton’s third law of motion.

The point at which a body’s weight balances equally in all directions is the centre of gravity. The total weight of an object is concentrated at this point. Our total weight from the centre of gravity does not travel downwards through the skeleton, i.e. it does not spread down and across structures. Gravity pulls our weight downwards in a straight line directly to the centre of the earth. The line of gravity at the earth’s surface is more or less 90° to the surface.

Our weight is due to gravity. Without gravity we would have no weight, i.e. we would be weightless. Gravity is a field force: it doesn’t change; the pull of gravity remains the same whether you have your feet on the ground or not. Newton described gravity as ‘The Universal Constant’ and it has an effect on our bones and joints and activates our upwards supporting reaction in response.

Ground Reaction Force (no, not a gardening programme) 

The supporting reaction force of the earth is equal and opposite of our weight. The difference between the supporting force and the force due to gravity is that the supporting force is a contact force; there has to be physical contact in order for a supporting reaction to take place. Gravity, on the other hand, is a field force and is unchanging; it remains the same whether there is contact or not. It is necessary that our body’s structure (skeleton) have actual physical contacts, such as that between the feet and the ground, in order for the reaction of support to happen.

This supporting force transfers from the earth’s surface and supports our weight. It transmits through the bones of the feet to the bones that are not in direct contact with the support of the ground. Ground reaction force travels through the bones of the feet through the bones of the ankle joint to the bones of the lower leg. In the lower leg, this force is conducted upward principally through the tibia to the knee joint and through to the femur. At the top of the femur, it travels inwards through the hip joints at roughly 70° to the vertical, around the inner rim of the pelvis to the sacroiliac joint. The support force continues from the sacroiliac joint through the ‘front ledge’ of the sacrum to the front of the lumbar spine. The bodies of the vertebrae conduct the force upward at the front of the spine – more or less in the middle of the torso. It continues to travel through the curves of the spine, upwards through the thoracic vertebrae and the cervical vertebrae to support the skull at the atlanto occipital joint. The head is supported from underneath by the cervical spine in a balance that Alexander Teachers describe as forward and upward.

  

The joints of the body connect the bones together and allow them to move. Ligaments and muscles keep the joints stable. The supporting force travels through joints so that each skeletal section fully supports the part of the skeleton that is directly above it and in contact with it.

Supporting Reflexes or Why Elephants Can't Jump

T. D. M. Roberts has defined the essential characteristic of a reflex response (1967, p.9) as:

…a characterizable pattern of involuntary response which can be elicited with some regularity from an organism on presentation of the appropriate specific stimulus, provided that the connections to the central nervous system are intact.

Scientific studies tell us that a number and a variety of reflexes support the body and they are all are concerned with gravity. These reflexes are usually active simultaneously and we unconsciously co-ordinate their reactions. Professor Rudolph Magnus (1873 – 1927) classified one of these postural reactions as the ‘antigravity mechanism’, which enables the skeleton to support the body against gravity. All standard textbooks describe the effect produced by this mechanism. When one limb supports the body, the muscles of that limb automatically contract so that the joints brace in the extended position and the limb becomes, as Magnus describes it, a pillar. However, Magnus was referring to quadrupeds whose limbs are partially bent and so need muscular activity to maintain this partial flexion. The exception seems to be the elephant whose limbs serve as static columns to maintain its enormous weight. The elephants’ weight-bearing limbs are so specialised that the elephant cannot jump, even for small distances. When comparing the muscles of the limb of an elephant to those of a human, the muscles of elephants are quite puny. Unlike the elephant with internal organs suspended from a horizontal spine, humans are constantly challenging gravity and we need antigravity muscles for powerful changes in posture from lying to sitting and standing.

When Basmajian (1978, p.178) tested this in humans using EMG (electromyogram – a recording of the electrical activity in skeletal muscle) he was able to show that, in standing, only a few of the leg muscles are active. The phenomenon is called ‘positive supporting reaction’ and is described in more detail by T. D. M. Roberts (1967, p.123). Basmajian shows that, for humans, supporting our vertical body over straight legs needs very little muscular activity with our ligaments passively stabilising the joints. If we need more stability, the reflexes can then add muscular force to that stabilisation. When in quiet standing on both feet, nearly all our muscles stay relaxed. When we start to walk, one leg has to bear nearly all our load. The ligaments and reflex muscles then work as a net force to make the joints of the foot and leg more stable. This allows a greater force to travel upwards through the bones of the leg and foot without them buckling.

Muscles intended for movement are usually nearer the surface of the body and their action is to move the skeleton at the joints. If there is an interruption to the supporting reflexes, we have to contract movement muscles in order to support ourselves. However, muscles intended for movement fatigue if continuously contracted and we become aware of their tension. When we no longer trigger movement muscles inappropriately, there is less sense of effort and heaviness in the body. When we become conscious of this reality, it enables the supporting reflexes to be more effective and therefore to give the body better support.

‘All evidence suggests that poise is not the natural outgrowth of a process that begins in distraction, preoccupation and insensitivity.’

David Appelbaum

The Stop