Posture Defeating Back Pain and Aging of the Spine

It becomes obvious even at first glance, that spines were originally developed as HORIZONTAL bone structures, rather than being raised up vertically like a tower. (Hint: they are flexible!)

(Figure 1 & 2)

My point is this; the human 'spine-design' is probably not the most rugged, and CERTAINLY fragile when put to MISuse. And objective of this article is how to avoid these misuses and the quite HORRIBLE long term effects they produce.

If you look at modern picture representations of the human spine, they tend to look as curved as the one depicted above. However, if you look at any YOUNG spine, it looks so much straighter. In fact, no matter what babies are doing, they tend to keep their backs extremely straight. This is the nature of the human spine BEFORE bad habits and gravity is allowed to influence it.

(Figure 3)

Also, the moment someone uses their body strength, the spine automatically straightens. You can explore this effect yourself by varying between a relaxed straight position and tilting your torso forward holding it up with your back strength. Obviously, the body KNOWS that the curved position is only useful for resting the muscles.

(Figure 4)

Based on all this, I'd like to postulate that the human spine is actually NEARLY straight. That the big curves are introduced when we stand/sit straight up to relax the back muscles. That doing so extensively, as part of a modern lifestyle (desk work, watching TV, driving car), is why our spines get stuck like that, making back pain the most common chronic disease, and allowing gravity to increase the crookedness of those curves as we get older.

(Figure 5)

Next, look at the gorilla. Notice how it retains its 'baby-spine-straightness' into adulthood. If we used our backs SLIGHTLY more like the gorilla does, could we possibly avoid ending up with deformed spine and posture?? Lets explore this!

(Figure 6)

Take a look at the bones that stick out from the spine. In function, these are very similar to the towers of a bridge.

(Figure 7)

The wires from the towers are the MUSCLES that run along the spine. As long as the spine a has a MINIMUM of tilt, this system will work similarly to how the towers and wires hold a bridge up. But try to imagine putting that bridge 100% vertical like a TOWER.. notice how it DISABLES the stabilizing effect of the wires.

(Figure 8)

This is what happens when we put the torso straight up to relax the back muscles, and doing so on a regular basis is what allows the increase of the curves mentioned previously.

(Figure 9)

Now, try sticking your ASS out a little, tilting your whole torso and head slightly forward. Notice how this ACTIVATES the wires (muscles) in the BRIDGE construction in your back. Notice how the spine starts to straighten all the way up to the top of your neck when you do this. If you could get chairs that promote this position, and be a bit like this when out walking, this would build TREMENDOUS strength along your spine, and probably ELIMINATE any standard neck or lower back pains and REVERSE the development of curvedness in your spine. Your posture would improve tremendously. Your breathing and even your VOICE would improve. The health and functioning of your internal ORGANS would even improve.

Ok there you have it. Now, lets find the best way to incorporate this into our lifestyle so we can have zero back pain and a strong youthful posture during our entire life. I believe the biggest issue is how we sit. Makers of ergonomic office chairs have known this for some years, and they have also found that the perfect sitting position is that of a HORSE RIDER. I strongly advice that you START by tilting the seat of your office/work chair forward and remove the back support entirely (or put it as straight as possible if unremovable).

(Figure 10)

Eventually, you want to get a saddle chair, or similar ergonomic chair. These are expensive, so try getting one through the company you work for.

(Figure 11)

You should get one for your home as well, and quit all forms of 'bad' sitting. 'Resting' sitting positions are simply not good for you. Lie down instead when tired.

(Figure 12)

Finally, you should start walking and standing with a posture similar to the standing baby depicted above. Just stick your ass out and tilt forward until you start feeling the BRIDGE effect working in your back.

All this may seem a bit daunting. I incorporated these changes in my own life nearly one year ago, and let me assure you; you will experience that your back quickly gains the strength required to support forward tilted sitting throughout the day. You will experience that your posture starts to improve. You will experience that lover back and neck pains start to go away, that you can now do things that used to result in back pain (like standing for longer periods of time).