Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” video hit the airwaves over 30 years ago in 1987 and it contained a dance move that people are still talking about – and scientists are still studying – to this day.
Discover Magazine Right around minute 7:00 in the video below you’ll see MJ lean about 45 degrees forward from a standing position. The average human can only lean 20 degrees or so before falling face first onto the floor, so, naturally, people thought that it was a cinematic special effect. The problem with that theory, though, is that Jackson continued to perform that move live on stage for years after. So, how did he do it? His shoes had a slot in them that slid onto a bolt on the floor, anchoring him to the ground so he could perform that dramatic dance move. Now, 30 years after the fact, three neurosurgeons have taken a look at the King of Pop’s epic lean, not from a physics, but from a physiolotical point of view.
Discover Magazine From Discovermagazine.com: Bending forward is limited by the erector spinae muscles, which act like cables to support forward bends up to 20 degrees, though some dancers can achieve 30 degrees, the paper says. When near the max of a bend, you can feel the strain on the Achilles’ heel as the ankles become the fulcrum for balance. People soon return to vertical or catch themselves from falling headlong. Though Jackson’s 45-degree bend is not physically possible without trickery, the King of Pop still needed incredible core strength and leg muscles to pull it off, the authors write. Not just anyone can lock their shoes into the floor and become Michael Jackson, it seems. “Several MJ fans, including the authors, have tried to copy this move and failed, often injuring themselves in their endeavors,” the researchers write.
Dreamstime.com Dancers today are still trying to out do Jackson’s moves and, in the process, stressing their spines in a manner that are unfamiliar to doctors. By studying what he did as a dancer and performer, doctors are hoping to gain insight into how to treat these spinal injuries. “The King of Pop has not only been an inspiration but a challenge to the medical fraternity,” Tripathi says.