research: what is possible?

My learning from the Feldenkrais Method (FM) and this statement about stiffening the chest has lead me to undertake kinematic studies of the pelvis and thorax to determine if such a statement can be true. Mobility of the thorax and coordination with pelvic action are keys to powerful action of the trunk. Restoring such mobility and coordination to the spine contributes potently to recovery from low back pain and powerful spinal function.

The animation above illustrates a classic Feldenkrais movement (from the pelvic clock), a traditional physical therapy motion (pelvic tilt) and a regular movement of human action (pelvic rotation in sitting to look up and down, bend to touch the toes and during walking). A motion common across professions and characteristic of human movement. This is just the beginning. Other movements of the pelvis (side bend and rotation) combine with tilting to produce the power center of the spine as taught in Eastern martial arts. It is a good motion to begin movement science research to communicate some claims about human movement proposed by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. See Feldenkrais Method.

(I recall the well told story about when President JF Kennedy, while suffering extreme low back pain met with Russian president Krushchev in Canada. As the story goes, Ben Gurion, then prime minister of Israel and long time beneficiary of the Feldenkrais Method, called JFK and suggested he see Feldenkrais who was in the US at that time.  Instead JFK put his faith in US medicine and that was that. Feldenkrais' comment was that he would be doomed to chronic pain.)

Maybe so. There is some debate in the Feldenkrais community about not medicalizing the method and maintaining it separately from a medical application. The problem is, many people attend for Feldenkrais as they attend a medical clinic for pain, including low back pain. Not only that, FM is a potent method for easing and preventing many musculoskeletal pains. Medicine needs to know. As this happens the other somatic benefits may become acceptable).

"Stiffening the chest" is partly measurable. Recently, in the world of movement science, electromagnetic devices have become available that can measure position and angle of a sensor in space. This equipment has provided a very accurate and valid tool for estimating spinal motion. Placing sensors on bony landmarks and then recording sensor motion with respect to a source provides an estimation of spinal movement. See below:

The ISORAK, 3SPACE TRACKER (1-4 sensors) and the MOTION STAR (1-90) all use a source box that outputs an electromagnetic field picking up the location of the sensors in a 3D Cartesian field.

So for pelvic rotation in the sagittal plane (pelvic tilt for physical therapists and a pelvic rock from 12 to 6 for Feldenkrais practitioners) both rotation (degrees) and translation (mm) of the pelvis can be determined. Simultaneously, motion of the sternum can also be determined. Typical patterns of movement are shown below.

The angular displacement follows a bell shaped curve and there is a synchronized opposite rotation of the sternum with the pelvis (Look at the animation at the top of the page- sensor1 is on the pelvis = dotted line on graph, and sensor2 on the sternum = thin blue line. Watch the two red sensors rotate. The pelvis rocks first towards 12 O'clock about 8 degrees and then to 6 o'clock about 8 degrees. The sternum rotates, in many people not all, in the opposite direction.)

For the translation motion with pelvic tilt, both the pelvis and sternum shift in the same direction as shown in the animation (Watch the red sensors translate left and right).

So what?
Well, if Moshe Feldenkrais says that in poor spinal movement the chest will stiffen, then this should be measurable by the above procedure. People with low back pain may well display a stiff chest to various trunk movements eg pelvic tilt.

Kinematics is the study of mechanics of rigid bodies without consideration of the forces involved. That is, for example, the movement of the skeleton without concern for the effort or resistance involved. Kinematics is something every musculoskeletal doctor, physical therapist and Feldenkrais practitioner perform everyday- we watch how people move, especially the organization of the bones. Kinematics is one way of studying human movement parameters.

Validating some of Feldenkrais' claims in this way will go a long way to establishing an acceptable conversation with medicine and science. The powerful personal effects of FM on an individual will, however, require other non-movement based research.


* Feldenkrais M (1972): Awareness Through Movement: Health exercises for personal growth . New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

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