Experimental measurements show that the moment of inertia θ of heavy deformed nuclei increases with increasing angular momentum J in the ground state rotational band. The increase is smooth at low angular momentum, at about J≈14-16 in some nuclei there is a sudden substantial increase in the moment of inertia such that the rotational frequency ω=J/θ actually decreases with increasing J producing a characteristic backbending curve in the θ vs ω plot. This article will disucss the theoretical foundation of this phenomena.