Let $F^{\mathrm{p}}\in \mathrm{GL}\left(3\right)$ be the plastic deformation from the multiplicative decomposition in elasto-plasticity. We show that the geometric dislocation density tensor of Gurtin in the form $\mathrm{Curl}\left[F^{\mathrm{p}}\right]·{\left(F^{\mathrm{p}}\right)}^T$ applied to rotations controls the gradient in the sense that pointwise $\forall R\in C^1({ℝ}^3,\mathrm{SO}\left(3\right)):\parallel \mathrm{Curl}\left[R\right]·R^T{\parallel }_{{𝕄}^{3\times 3}}^2\ge \frac{1}{2}{\parallel \mathrm{D}R\parallel }_{{ℝ}^{27}}^2$. This result complements rigidity results [Friesecke, James and Müller, (2002) 1461–1506; John, (1961) 391–413; Reshetnyak, (1967) 631–653)] as well as an associated linearized theorem saying...