“Bones don’t hold the body up. Fascia holds the bones that hold the body up.”

What holds up

A skeleton alone cannot stand. The classroom kind hangs from a rod. In the living body, bones never quite touch. Joints are held apart and steadied by a pre-tensioned net of muscle and fascia. Levin, an orthopedic surgeon, reported joint surfaces staying separated even under load during surgery. Pull the web anywhere and the whole structure redistributes. That is exactly what the model predicts.

What’s overstated

Compression is real: every step drives load straight through your bones, and classical biomechanics measures it well. Biotensegrity is a model, not a law. It has never been validated as a complete whole-body account, and researchers actively debate it. Some propose refinements like fascintegrity, which add fluids and nerves to the picture.