Intu-Flow and Biotensegrity
Intu-Flow® and the Biotensegrity Concept
by Jarlo Ilano, M.P.T.,C.S.T.
In a previous article, I had written about MultiPlanar Mobility (MPM) in the more isolated terms of specific joint mobilities. In this “micro” view, each joint can be assessed in the manner of the 6 degrees of freedom (top/bottom, left/right, front/back). Full mobility requires total range of motion into all of these degrees. Restrictions in any of these degrees of freedom can lead to a cascade of differing problems, not the least of which is undue stress/strain on the joints in question. This is a great diagnostic tool, and leads the beginner to understand the necessity of working through IntuFlow or Warrior Wellness exercise thoroughly. However, as the CST athlete progresses through daily personal practice, it behooves them to understand some of the deeper implications of MPM.
By “deeper meaning”, I am referring to the concept of BioTensegrity. A terse definition may be that the body’s structure is arranged in a manner that forces are attenuated and distributed by a delicate balance of tension and compression. I had introduced the concept in a simple manner in the last written examination, indicating that In the body as a whole, free and complete multiplanar mobility of each of its “parts”, contributes to the optimal arrangement of these forces. With this definition, it is easy to see that we can “sum the parts” of every joint motion in our body and note its effect on our overall body movement and condition. This is a nice, mechanistic way of viewing our structure. This is a nice bridge from current educational models of physiology to the holistic “whole body” models. It is not a great leap to say that we would be improve movement performance in any chose endeavor if all of our joints were moving freely and easily.
To further deepen our thinking, it may be useful to have the concept of the fascial web. Rather than viewing the body as the sum of its parts, adding sequentially to a given “whole”, we instead begin our reasoning to see that there are no parts, and we are simply one “whole.” The fascial web pervades our structure (and in fact can be argued to actually be our structure!), through every joint, muscle, and bone complex. Dissection of the human body reveals a mess of intertwining tissue that must be teased and torn apart to create the relatively arbitrary muscle groups that we see in anatomical texts. With this image of a pervasive, interconnected soft tissue running from the top of the head to the tips of the toes, we begin to see the true meaning of the “whole” body. MPM then becomes an understanding of the necessity of full and free joint mobility at every body segment, not just for the sum of its parts like a machine. But because each part of our body is an integral for every other part.
