An acupuncturist in Palo Alto, Calif., thinks she has figured out why. She has traveled around the world studying cultures with low rates of back pain — how they stand, sit and walk. Now she's sharing their secrets with back pain sufferers across the U.S.
Primal posture: Ubong tribesmen in Borneo (right) display the perfect J-shaped spines. A woman in Burkina Faso (left) holds her baby so that his spine stays straight. The center image shows the S-shaped spine drawn in a modern anatomy book (Fig. I) and the J-shaped spine (Fig. II) drawn in the 1897 anatomy book Traite d'Anatomie Humaine. Courtesy of Esther Gokhale and Ian Mackenzie/Nomads of the Dawn. Image sourced from NPR. Available at: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/06/05/back-pain-promo2_custom-830b68bd64b28412f6c67c55c3250b9b57e0980a.jpg?s=800&c=85&f=webp