In 1987, Michael Jackson’s music video titled Smooth Criminal invited admiration and became viral worldwide.
In the video, Michael performed an unusual dance, as if against gravity. He tilted his body to 45 degrees with the condition of a straight back and feet stepping on the floor.
Many later tried Smooth Criminal dance but failed. Most even reportedly suffered injuries.
Michael’s dance was amazing. Not only the people of the entertainment world are interested, but also many scientists who are interested in learning it.
One of them is a group of neuroscientists from the Institute of Postgraduate Educationand Indian Medical Research, who wrote a research on the secret of Michael Jackson’s antigravity dance movement.
“Actually the antigravity dance movement can tilt 45 degrees, it can’t be done normally,” said the neurologist.
Even though they knew that the antigravity dance movement was also helped by special shoes. But to be able to tilt in a straight position is difficult for untrained people like Michael.
Michael’s fans, including the writers, claimed to have tried to imitate the style and they failed. Some of them are even injured in the process of imitating it.
“So, even with specially designed footwear, this movement is very difficult to do. The movement requires strong spinal muscles and lower leg muscles,” the experts in the study wrote.
The researchers even found the fact , to keep his position straight even though he was tilted, Michael rested on the Achilles tendon on his leg. The Achilles tendon is the tendon on the back of the leg.
Without special shoes, even a professional dancer can only tilt at a maximum angle of 25 to 30 degrees.
According to researchers, Michael Jackson challenged the understanding of spinal biomechanics, which plays an important role in medicine.
“Using tricks or not, Michael has challenged our understanding of the modes and mechanisms of spinal cord injury,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers revealed that since Michael performed amazingly at Smooth Criminal, professional dancers are inspired to jump higher, stretch further, and spin faster than before.
“This is the reason we conducted research on Michael’s antigravity dance, which is to determine how spinal surgery for professional dancers can change in the future.
“The rapid progress in the world of dance as an art and sport throughout the world will surely produce new forms of injury, which may confuse neurosurgeons,” the researchers concluded in their study.
Research by neurologists from India has been published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine.