Biotensegrity models living systems in ways that were inconceivable in the past but has taken some time to become widely accepted because of its challenges to generally accepted wisdom. Orthodox biomechanics has its origins in mechanistic models from the seventeenth century and allowed over-simplified representations of anatomy and motion to persist to the present day, with the approximations and assumptions inherent within its methods routinely overlooked. In contrast, a biotensegrity perspective recognizes that the human body is NOT a machine but a complex heterarchical structure of intertwined relationships that result from a fundamental set of self-organizing principles. Here, the closed-chain kinematics of tensegrity provide a unified mechanical system that extends from molecules to the complete organism and represents a paradigm shift in thinking. A new classification of biomechanical models that includes super-stable tensegrity and has relevance to mechanical engineering in general is then introduced.