The human body: An instantaneously and dynamically self-equilibrating tensegrity structure

The human body, with its upright stance, is a marvelous if underappreciated example of an instantaneously and dynamically self-equilibrating tensegrity structure. At any instant, while standing, walking, running, exercising and engaging in any of a variety of activities, the bones (compression members), muscles and ligaments (tension members) and joints of a body dynamically adjust themselves to accomplish the dual feats of load resistance and balance. A study was made—from a structural perspective—of the fundamental components, variables and essentially instantaneous feedback loops that make this structure work. Overview results of this study are presented in this paper.