believe it or not, there are a few cultures in the world where back pain hardly exists.
Back pain in the U.S. is pervasive. More than 1/3 of Americans in their mid-50s or older have chronic or untreatable pain in their neck and back, according to a recent Gallup poll. But believe it or not, there are a few cultures in the world where back pain hardly exists.
An acupuncturist in Palo Alto, Calif., thinks she’s figured out why. Esther Gokhale traveled around the world, studying cultures with low rates of back pain, taking photos and videos of people who walked with water buckets on their heads, collected firewood or sat on the ground weaving, for hours. She tried to figure out what all these different people had in common. The first thing that popped out was the shape of their spines: they were J shaped. A regal posture, she calls it. It’s what you see in Greek statues: It’s much flatter, all the way down the back. Then at the bottom, it curves to stick the buttocks out. So the spine looks more like the letter J.
Americans tend to have S-shaped spines: It curves at the top and then back again at the bottom. According to Gokhale, the S shape is actually not natural; and it’s a J-shaped spine that we want.
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Gokhale emphasizes that it’s all about strengthening the core muscles in order to achieve the ideal spine. Here are her five tips for helping you get that J-shape:
1. Do a shoulder roll.
Americans tend to scrunch their shoulders forward, so our arms are in front of our bodies. To fix that, gently pull your shoulders up, push them back and then let them drop — like a shoulder roll. Now your arms should dangle by your side, with your thumbs pointing out.
2. Lengthen your spine.
Adding extra length to your spine is easy, Gokhale says. Being careful not to arch your back, take a deep breath in and grow tall. Then maintain that height as you exhale. Repeat: Breathe in, grow even taller and maintain that new height as you exhale.
3. Squeeze, squeeze your glute muscles when you walk.
In many indigenous cultures, people squeeze their gluteus medius muscles every time they take a step. That’s one reason they have such shapely buttocks muscles that support their lower backs. Gokhale says you can start developing the same type of derrière by tightening the buttocks muscles when you take each step.
4. Don’t put your chin up.
Instead, add length to your neck by taking a lightweight object, like a bean bag or folded washcloth, and balance it on the top of your crown. Try to push your head against the object.
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5. Don’t sit up straight.
Gokhale says sitting up straight just forces you to arch your back and can lead to problems. Instead do a shoulder roll to open up the chest and take a deep breath to stretch and lengthen the spine.
Relevant source:
Curated from NPR
