Back Difficulties
Arthritis of the Spine. Arthritis of the back is often a serious problem after the age of fifty years. It is caused mainly by wearing down of the surfaces of the spine, and by nature’s attempts to repair them. Unfortunately, the wearing down is mostly in the centers of these joints, while the repair process is around the edges. Eventually, the spinal joints become calcified and x-rays then show not the clean, block upon block appearance of youth, but rather the thistle upon thistle appearance of osteoarthritis in the later ages.
The spine, dominated by severe arthritis, eventually becomes shrunken, hunched, and finally fused into an inflexible “poker” spine. Pinched nerves and irritated surrounding ligaments, contribute to the painful stiffness which is often felt as chest and leg pain. This condition disables many people who are otherwise in sound health.
The wearing down process would not occur in our backs if we relieved the spine of weight bearing, by walking on all fours like
Fig. 127. The back is our only support allowing us to walk upright. Powerfully arched, it is the main foundation to which all body parts are attached. Its difficulties are many. Because more weight is borne by the lower vertebrae, they have additional difficulties. Most disc problems involve the lower vertebrae.
Fig. 128. The back view of the spine should be straight, but usually it has small variations in it. The vertebral column is normally easily flexed from side to side. When it becomes rigid from arthritic disease, it is termed “poker spine.”
Fig. 129. The side view of the spine reveals graceful arching making it compatible with ordinary movement and activity. An erect posture is easiest on the spine and is less fatiguing than poor posture. Internal organs also assume a more normal position with an erect back.
Fig. 130. Scoliosis or sideways spinal deformity is very common and means very little unless it is pronounced. Nearly 30 percent of us have some scoliosis in our backs.
Fig. 131. Kyphosis or humpbacked deformity often is the result of bone disease of the spine. It tends to appear in later years as bones soften, though it also can be a result of poor posture habits. Besides a tendency to greater fatigue, kyphosis produces a most unattractive posture, which usually worsens with the years.
Fig. 132. Lordosis or sway-back spinal deformity may result from body build or hips which cannot easily straighten out. It often causes no difficulty. But the shearing action of one vertebra upon another may eventually cause them to slip and weight-bearing becomes difficult.
animals, but since a change back to this type of walking does not seem likely, we look to other methods of relief for this condition.
Hormone therapy is one effective method of treating this difficulty, and is based on the observation that continued sexual function of the testicle and ovary seems to prevent spinal wear and tear for some obscure reason. Intelligent medical therapy is usually successful in relieving arthritis of the back and should be sought in preference to mysterious or overly enthusiastic fad remedies, which contribute mostly as methods of self-hypnosis. Many more people would be confined to their wheel chairs today, completely or nearly completely disabled, if it were not for the reliable means of relief now available.