A SIMPLIFIED TECHNIQUE FOR TEACHING BODY ALIGNMENT IN STANDING: ITS APPLICATION AND EVALUATION

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Sponsoring Committee: Professor Leonard A. Larson, Professor John 8. Rockwell and Professor J. Darnell Barnard

A SIMPLIFIED TECHNIQUE FOR TEACHING BODY ALIGNMENT IN STANDING *

ITS APPLICATION AND EVALUATION

Ivalclare Sprow Howland

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the School of Education New York University

1950

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Final Document kcceptad. Date ’JliL— j»L-—

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July 11, 1960

The student hereby guarantees that no part of the dissertation or dooument whloh he has submitted for pub­ lic a tl on has been heretofore published and (or) copy­ righted In the United States of Amerisa, exsept In the oase of passages quoted from other published sources) that he Is the sole author and proprietor of said dissertation or dooument) that the dissertation or doc­ ument contains no matte# which, if published, will be libelous or otherwise Injurious, or Infringe In any way the copyright of any other party) and that he will defend, indemnify and hold harmless New York University against all suits and proceedings which may be .brought and against all claims whloh may he made agd*n*t^lwYSeekueidhre»il>y by reason of the publication of said dissertation or dooument.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Xt Is with deep pleasure that the Investigator expresses her sincere appreciation to those who gave encouragement and assistance In the development of this study. To her many students, thanks are due for their Inspiration and unfailing faith in the merit of the problem.

Special thanks are due to Mr. Donald Mathews,

who gave direction and assistance in the construction of the instrument; to Mr. George Novak for his expert and efficient aid in the development of the photographic technique; and to those men and women students, who served as experimental subjects, for their willing and faithful service which aided in bringing the study to completion. To her colleague, Mr. Karl Gorak, Indebtedness is expressed for his cooperation and assistance In serv­ ing as examiner in the experimental phase of the study. To her Sponsoring Committee, Professors L. A. Larson, J. G. Rockwell and J. D. Barnard, the investi­ gator wishes to express her sincere gratitude for their patient guidance, wise counsel and generous support of

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the problem*

To the Chairman* Professor Larson* special

appreciation is expressed for his Invaluable direction* constant encouragement and expressed faith in the worth of the study. To those who served as consultants in the develop­ ment of the principles involved in the problem* the inves­ tigator wishes to express her indebtedness for their con­ structive criticisms* valuable suggestions and the time given unstintlngly from their capacity work schedules to bring meaning and focus to the fundamentals upon which this study rests* Finally* to her many friends and colleagues* the investigator is deeply appreciative for their sustained interest and without whose support the undertaking of this study would not have taken place*

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PREFACE The early impressions in life are the strongest. They become deep-seated and profoundly Influence behavior throughout life. The education of the developing individual is physical as well as mental and emotional.

And into the

intricately woven fabric of growth and development the physlcsOL aspect, as threads, strongly influence the beauty of the product. Thus it is, that the growing child can be effect­ ively Impressed with the importance of his physical body; he can be taught early, by direction and example, that a healthy, well-controlled body, one of poise and pride, will serve him well all his life.

He can be Impressed

that his physical body is a structure through ufalch his spirit, his hopes and his aspirations are served in developing a personality that contributes to joy and life fulfillment. An appreciation of this Importance of the physical body is the charge and the privilege of health and physical education programs in schools.

It is their noble servloe

to Impress youth with the belief that the trained body

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give a Joy in skilled movement and skills achievement* Coupled with mental and emotional concomitants, fulfill­ ment is assured* But the individual is only half physically educa­ ted if he is capable of body control and heightened sat­ isfaction in sports, dance or swisming, and then, walks, sits and stands with a body reverted to a state of ugliness and physical illiteracy.

It becomes the duty of physical

education to ensure in schools an appreciation and under­ standing of the physically educated body in all motor events• The neglect of totality in the physical education of the individual has been disturbing to this investigator. She has been concerned with the apathy and indifference of school programs in training the body to execute skillfully the every-day utilitarian motor skills*

It is due to this

concern that Interest and effort have been exerted to offer direction and impetus to teaching the skillful use of the body in every-day activities* This study has been undertaken with the hope that the findings may be helpful to teachers of health and physical education, parents, physicians and clinicians in directing the appreciation and practice of a controlled body for skillful performance in ALL motor activities, not alone the athletic*

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TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER 1

PAGE THE PROBLEM AND THE NEED FOR THE STUDY ....

1

Statement of the Problem ...•••.••••••••• Amplification of the Problem ...... Basic Assumptions .... •••••••••••» Definition of Terms ..... Limitations of the Study ..... Related Research ••••••••••••••••..... Need for the Study

6 6 7 9 10 16 20

/

II

III

OBJECTIVES ESSENTIAL TO TEACHING BODY ALIGN­ MENT IN STANDING ...................

22

Social Hypotheses .... Physiological Hypotheses ............. Ob jectives Extracted from the Hypotheses Considered Essential to Teaching Body Alignment in Standing •••..•••••••..... Social Objectives ..... Physiological Objectives ••••••••••••••••

42 43 44

PRINCIPLES BASIC TO TEACHING BODY ALIGNMENT IN STANDING ............................

47

Evidence From Which psychological Prin­ ciples were Extracted ...... Perceptual-motor Learning ••••••••••••••• Conditioned Responses ...... Attention and Motivation ........... Kinesthetic Cues ....... Effect of Active Participation •••••••••• Comparison and Differentiation •••••••••• Psychological Principles ••••••••••••••.•

51 52 53 54 54 55 56 57

Evidence From Which Mechanical Principles were Extracted ..... Newton*s First Law of Motion •••••••••••• Newton's Second Law of Motion ••••••»••«• Newton's Third Law of Motion ••••••••••.• The Law of Gravitation •••••••••••••••..•

56 59 60 62 64

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24 31

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER III

PAGE (continued) The Law of the Lever •• The Law of Stress and Strain •••••••••«»• Interpretations of the Mechanical Ad­ justments of Body Parts for Mechanical Balance and Alignment In Standing •••••• Mechanical Principles .... . Evidence From Which the Physiological Principles were Extracted •••••••••••••• Cardlo-vascular Adjustments in Standing • Energy Cost in Standing ..... ...... Fatigue in Standing................... . Vital Capacity and Respiration in Stand­ ing ••••••................... Neurological Considerations in Standing • Visceral Considerations in Standing • •••• Summary of Documentary Evidence ••••••••• Physiological Principles......... •••••• Summary of the Principles Basic to Teaching Body Alignment in Standing ••••

IV

V

65 66 67 72 74 80 88 94 101 109 120 123 126

PROCEDURE IN COLLECTING D A T A ..............

130

Selection of Subjects ••••••••••..••••••• Radiographs and Photographs of a Select­ ed Experimental Subject •••••••••••••••. Construction of the Measuring Instrument. Procedures in the Measurement of Photo­ graphs of Experimental Subjects •••••••• Procedures Employed in the Experimental Measurement of the Application of the Developed Technique •#••••••••••••.•••••

130

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

.......

Results of the Experimental Measurements of the Radiographs and Photographs Objectivity and Reliability of the Measuring Instrument and the Reliability of the Investigator as Examiner •••••••• Results of the Measurement of Linear Interrelationships between the Sternopublc Line and the Traditional Criterion ........ Result of the Experimental Measurement of the Application of the Developed Technique for Teaching Body Alignment in Standing..........

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135 141 147 154 165 165 169

170

178

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER

VI

PAGE

APPLICATION OF THE BODY ALIGNMENT TECHNIQUE ............................. Principles of Teaching............... Principle of Context................. Principle of Focus................... Principle of Socialization ........... Principle of Individualization ....... Principle of Sequence...... Principle of Evaluation .......... Learning Situations of Subject-material Content ............................ Evaluations of the Outcomes of the ............. Learning Activity

184 188 189 189 190 191 193 194 195 209

VII

GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........

211

VIII

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ............

221

BIBLIOGRAPHY........

225

APPENDIX ............

240

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LIST OP TABLES

TABLE I

II

III

IV

V VI

VII

PAGE DISTRIBUTION OP EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS ACCORDING TO CLASS, SIZE, AGE, SEX, LENGTH OP CLASS PERIOD AND TOTAL IN­ STRUCTION IN THE APPLICATION OP THE DEVELOPED TECHNIQUE IN BODY MECHANICS CLASSES «..........................

157

DISTRIBUTION OP CONTROL GROUPS ACCORDING TO AGE, CLASS, SIZE, SEX, AGE RANGE AND AVERAGE A G E .....................

161

OBJECTIVITY AND RELIABILITY OP THE MEASUR­ ING INSTRUMENT DETERMINED BY THREE SETS OP TESTS WITH TWENTY-POURSUBJECTS

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INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF LINEAR MEASUREMENTS BETWEEN THE STERNO-PUBIC LINE AND THE TRADITIONAL CRITERION OP ALIGNMENT IN THREE T E S T S ...........

174

AVERAGE INTBRCORRELATIONS BETWEEN THREE TESTS OF LINEAR MEASUREMENTS .........

176

SIGNIFICANCE OP THE DIFFERENCE OP THE MEANS BETWEEN PRE-INSTRUCTION AND POST­ INSTRUCTION TESTS OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS .................................

181

SIGNIFICANCE OP THE DIFFERENCE OF THE MEANS BETWEEN TEST I AND TEST II OF CONTROL G R O U P S ............ .............

183

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FIGURES

NUMBER I

PAGE Criterion of traditional body landmarks for alignment

II III IV V VI

VII VIII

.....

5

The tilt of the pelvis influences spinal curvatures and alignment of body parts* •

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Radiograph and Photograph of selected subject in an assumed body slump •••••••

138

Radiograph and Photograph of seleoted subject in an assumed body alignment •••

139

The Alignometer

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.....

College students demonstrating body align­ ment in standing) A, B, C, D end E indi­ cate location of lines connecting the sterno-pubio line and the five traditional body landmarks ...... 153 A fifth grade student aligning body parts in standing *.....

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An eighth grade student aligning body parts in standing ••••••••••••••••••••••

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CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND THE NEED FOR THE STUDY The problem of man1a adaptation to the requirement of an upright standing posture has been one of compelling interest to the investigator during many years of study and teaching In the field of health and physical education* The emphasis placed upon the problem, as reported by documents of history* shows that It has been one of concern from our earliest cultures*

The great philoso­

phers and teachers of the early Chinese and Greek civili­ zations expressed interest in man's struggle for bodily economy in the upright standing position as a law of organic development*

More recently* scientists have

re-inforced this belief by study and research not only In the fields of medicine and physics but in psychology and the social sciences as well*

It becomes* then* the

function of education to apply these findings to the end that adaptation to the upright standing position may take place with greater ease and bodily efficiency* Comprehension of the problem of adaptation* which the human body must make for balanced alignment In the up­ right standing posture* may be attained more readily if the physical organism Is looked upon* In part* as a mechanical being*

Tbs human body resembles a machine whose many separate parts must coordinate and adjust, one to another, to form a balanced whole.

When these parts, each related

to the others, work together consistently according to the mechanical laws of balance and equilibrium, the assem­ bled whole functions effectively. Like the machine, the human organism must meet the strains and stresses of forces acting upon it.

It Is sub­

jected constantly to gravltal stresses and other forces such as momentum, Inertia, compression, tensions, bending and rotatory stresses. To meet these forces, the human body must furnish compensating, opposing and resisting counter-forces that may serve to control the skeletal framework In balanoe and alignment as a protection against strains and dis­ turbances to body tissues.

When the human body like the

machine departs from maintaining balanoe and correlation of its parts, there appears to result energy waste and lessened efficiency. It is apparent that the human organism Is under continuous dynamic effort to maintain balance In the up­ right standing position and lb becomes, to a large measure, a problem of mechanical adjustments as the struggle for bodily economy persists. Such a problem la one of complexity and difficulty since the human body cannot be resolved Into set and fixed adjustments.

On the fcsaembly line, the machine la designed

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for balance and Its parts are proplerly aligned by forcibly tightening screws and rivets to meet the set pattern*

In

contrast, the human organism must constantly adjust and re-adjust Itself by means of Its own systemic controls* This adaptation and adjustment, therefore, becomes a problem of education and training.

The body must be

trained to align and adjust its parts with ease and freedom of movement in standing as well as in other motor activities* It becomes Important for the Individual to learn how to apply the laws of mechanics for alignment in standing just as he learns how to use his body mechanically coordinated for pro­ ficiency in sports, swimming or dancing* Thus a technique, based upon mechanical laws, la essential as a tool in the training and teaching of body alignment in standing* The technique, as developed in this study, is based upon the following traditional criterion which physicians and physical educators have employed primarily as the fundamental mechanical basis for teaching postural alignment in the upright position: ^

1.

L* T. Brown, "Bodily Mechanics and Medicine", Boston Med* and Surg. J*, (June 24, 1920) p* 649 ChTTcTrenTs BureauT Posture Standards, U* S. Dept, of Labor, 1926 G. T. Stafford, Preventive and Corrective Physical Education, 1928, p. 101 Arthur &teindler, The Mechanics of the Normal and Patho­ logical Locomotion of Man, x9ob, p* 17, bo-4B7“l^I W. H* fchelps and R. KTphuth, The Diagnosis and Treatment Postural Defects, p* 81-100 J* fl* Kellogg, "Observations on the Relations of Posture to Health and a New Method of Studying Posture and De­ velopment", Bull* Battle Creek Sanitarium and Bosp* Clinic, 2 2 : l 7 T B e p T r T ? 2 m p T TTS?-------------

4 1. As the centers of gravity of each body part approximates the line of gravity (vertical balance line of the body), balanced body align, ment is said to exist. The respective centers of gravity are indicated by the following external anatomical landmarks, viewed from the side: a. tragus of the ear; b. tip of the shoulder (acromion process); c. greater trochanter of the femur; d. just behind the knee-eap at the center of the knee joint; e. at a point 3-5 cm. in front of the ankle Joint. (Figure I, p. 5) 2. The alignment of the oenters of gravity of the body parts above the pelvis la dependent upon the tilt of the pelvis. When the pelvis tilts too far forward or backward in its obliquity with the line of gravity, the anterior posterior spinal curvatures are disturbed and the alignment between the various body parts will be affected correspondingly. The tilt of the pelvis controls the posture of the upper trunk and the proper dis­ tribution of body weight over the feet. (Figure II, 1 and 2, p. 5) The technique developed in this study tends to produce balanced relationship between the tilt of the pelvis and the upper trunk and the centers of gravity of the separate body parts as they approximate the line of gravity.

It is accomplished by aligning vertically

certain anatomical landmarks located on the sternum and the pelvis that will parallel the vertical balanoe line of the body in such a manner that alignment may be easily recognized, Interpreted and practiced for balanced stand­ ing.

(Figure II, 3, p. 5) The investigator believes that this simplified

technique will be of value to teachers and that it will serve as an educational and motivational measure in the prevention or correction of unbalanced alignment In standing.

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