I deeply appreciate the comments Dr. Hazen made about my article in the preceding commentary. However, I must say the correlation between his comments and my paper eludes me. The Short Right Leg Syndrome article presented in the June issue of Structural Integration is a chapter taken from my newly released book Advanced Myoskeletal Techniques®. The gist of the article was to first bring attention to the enormous role leg length discrepancy has on pain and pathology seen in our offices and clinics each day and then to present new theories as to possible neurologic and embryologic causes. Fetal positioning during the final trimester and resultant adult fascial patterns was a subject dear to the heart of Dr. Rolf, as indicated in old class notes and so eloquently presented by Rosemary Feitis and Louis Schultz in their wonderful book, The Endless Web.

Rather than attempting greater detail explaining the profound neurologic role vestibular and motor dominance play in the postural model, I think Rolf Institute members would prefer reading an intriguing chapter from my book written by a dear friend and working associate, Dr. Ross Pope. His chapter entitled The Common Compensatory Pattern: Its Origin and Relationship to the Postural Model, was recently published in the Journal of the American Academy of Osteopathy. A new version, edited to accompany the “Short Right Leg Syndrome” chapter, appears on my website at http://www.erikdalton.com/ article CCP Thesis pdf.

Somatic therapists interested in further investigating this fascinating subject of fetal positioning, vestibular/motor dominance, and associated common compensatory patterns will relish the research Dr. Pope presents in this highly acclaimed paper. To further satisfy the obsessed inquiring minds so prevalent at the Rolf Institute, Google a few of my favorite researchers in this field via these references:

Geschwind, N. Cerebral Lateralization. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1987.

Previc, F. “A General Theory Concerning the Prenatal Origins of Cerebral Lateralization in Humans.” Psychological Review. Vol. 98, No. 3: 299-334, 1991.

Tally, J. “Common Compensatory Pattern as It Relates to the Presentation of the Fetal Head Position at Delivery -A Pilot Study.” Dept. of Fanmily 2003.

Zink, G J. “An Osteopathic Structural Examination and Functional Interpretation of the Soma.” Osteopathic Annals 7:12-19, 1979.