Graham Scarr

The improvement of the human condition is the driver behind a vast amount of ongoing research and naturally employs the most up-to-date methods in its endeavours. It has contributed greatly to our understanding of the body and benefitted our healthcare systems in remarkable ways, but there is a problem. The mapping of anatomy to its physiological f...

The mechanics of fascia is based on a body-wide system of closed-chain kinematics operating within a tensegrity configuration at every organizational level.

Closed kinematic chains (CKCs) are widely used in mechanical engineering because they provide a simple and efficient mechanism with multiple applications, but they are much less appreciated in living tissues. Biomechanical research has been dominated by the use of lever models and their kinematic analysis, which has largely ignored the geometric or...

The temporo-mandibular joint is a characteristic feature of mammalian development, and essential to mastication and speech, yet it causes more problems than any other joint in the body and remains the least understood. While it is generally accepted that the normal joint is loaded under compression, the problems and controversies surrounding this v...

The temporo-mandibular joint causes more problems than any other in the body and is the least understood with the high incidence of associated symptomatology remaining a major cause for concern. This lack of knowledge is partly due to the difficulties in acquiring information as it is not easy to access and practical and ethical constraints have en...

Periodic changes in arterial pressure and volume have long been related to respiratory and sympathetic nerve activity (Traube-Hering-Mayer waves) but their origins and nomenclature have caused considerable confusion since they were first discovered in the eighteenth century. However, although they remain poorly understood and the underlying details...

Muscles are composite structures consisting of contractile myofibres surrounded by complex hierarchies of collagen-reinforced fascial sheaths. They are essentially flexible cylinders that change in shape, with the particular alignment of collagen fibres within their myofascial walls reflecting the most efficient distribution of mechanical stresses...

This 'Letter to the Editor' was fully endorsing the type of research and its results in the original article by Kassolik et al., but also highlighting and correcting some apparent misunderstanding about tensegrity in relation to the human body.

Practitioners described as ‘cranial’ osteopaths and ‘cranio-sacral’ therapists routinely observe palpatory phenomena within the limbs of patients and use these findings to inform diagnosis and treatment. As current anatomical knowledge is unable to explain this, it is hypothesized that cyclic changes in vascular volume (Traube–Hering–Mayer waves) a...

The elbow is conventionally described as a uniaxial hinge joint and the pivot of proximal forearm rotation; the joint surfaces guide motion, the ligaments maintain joint integrity and the muscles cause motion. However, this simplicity is less clear on detailed examination and masks uncertainties over its component structures and their functions. El...

Tensegrity is a structural system popularly recognised for its distinct compression elements that appear to float within a tensioned network. It is an attractive proposition in living organisms because such structures maintain their energy-efficient configuration even during changes in shape. Previous research has detailed the cellular cytoskeleton...

SUMMARY: Many cultures throughout history have used the regularities of numbers and patterns as a means of describing their environment. The ancient Greeks believed that just five archetypal forms--the 'platonic solids'--were part of natural law, and could describe everything in the universe because they were pure and perfect. The formation of simp...

Background Traditional views of the human cranial vault are facing challenges as researchers find that the complex details of its development do not always match previous opinions that it is a relatively passive structure. In particular, that stability of the vault is dependant on an underlying brain; and sutural patency merely facilitates cranial...