For example, one would not examine the properties of the metal sodium, and the gas chlorine, and predict the properties of the combination, salt. Tensegrity structures have the property of synergy. Therefore, any studies of subassemblies of vertebrae, discs, ligaments, motion segments and the like, have to be reassessed. Nachemson, in outstanding studies with transducers placed in discs of live subjects, does not show compressive loads, but only pressure on the transducer which could be transmitted by compression, shear, or tension. There is a corollary to the concept of synergy known as the Principle of the Whole System, which states that the known behavior of some of the parts make possible the discovery of the presence of other parts and their behaviors, kinetics, structures, and relative dimensionalities.
Ligaments are under continuous tension.
At no time are these ligaments completely lax, indicating a continuous tension state. Kazarian describes that when the vertebral bodies are held together only by the intervertebral discs, after having cut the anterior and posterior longitudinal ligaments, the vertebral column expands, as would be expected in a tensegrity system if some of the tension members are cut. We must recognize that all muscles attached to the spine have a physiologic resting length, which means that they are under continuous tension, never becoming completely lax. They, therefore, contribute to the continuous tension system as well. It has been assumed that a ligament may support a load but it cannot move the load.