This week, Kevin explores how our evolution from quadrupeds to bipeds may be the root cause of chronic back pain. He shares his own injury experience and examines how our spine’s design, combined with modern habits like prolonged sitting, contributes to discomfort, plus tips to keep your back healthy.
This week, Kevin explores how our evolution from quadrupeds to bipeds may be the root cause of chronic back pain. He shares his own injury experience and examines how our spine’s design, combined with modern habits like prolonged sitting, contributes to discomfort, plus tips to keep your back healthy.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hello listeners, I hope everyone is doing well this week. As is very often the case, I will kick this episode off with a personal anecdote. Two years ago in April, I had a sport specific injury doing judo training. A beginner did something that was very unexpected and not allowed, hence why it was unexpected. They ‘stacked’ me on my neck. Which is about as comfortable as it sounds. There was a large crunching sound and my arm went totally limp and I could not raise it. So, I tied it up using my belt as a make shift sling and took myself off to hospital. I was put in a neck brace and went through a period of forced meditation: I was left on my back, immobile and staring at the ceiling for 3 hours. I then had an MRI scan. After this, I went off home in my neck brace. A few weeks later, there was no word from the hospital and I returned to training. Judo, karate, some kickboxing and so on. During this time, I developed what has now become a permanent tingling and numbness down the small ring and ring finger of my left hand and cannot turn my head to the left. It feels ‘blocked’ inside. I have also had bouts of dizziness, walking to the left on occasions and not able to walk straight and the worst toothache you can imagine.
Last week, I received a phone call from the hospital. Two years after my MRI to ask if I could go in to see the spinal specialist right now. Curious, I thought. I suspect that somewhere along the line, they lost my MRI and just found it. So, off I went to the hospital. The consultant I met with showed me that 4 of my cervical vertebrae were a different colour from all the others, showing some kind of difference to the health and structure and that I had 2 herniated discs in my neck, which it appeared on the MRI were in contact with the spinal cord. This, he said was the cause of my tingles, inability to move my neck and my dizziness episodes. He booked me in for another MRI and physiotherapy and said that depending on the next MRI, its possible I may need spinal surgery. Exciting times!
But, although it is my ‘inference to best explanation’ as we call it in the philosophy of science, that a sport injury caused this…I also know that as we age, many many people start to report chronic neck and back pain. Both of these are originating in the spine. So, whats the deal? Why would a spine cause more chronic pain than anything else? It certainly has led to a whole industry dealing with back pain. Special chairs, pillows, shoes, braces, devices to lie on, training protocols and physical therapists that will insist your glutes aren’t ‘firing’ or your core isn’t engaging. But could there be an anatomical cause? One that lies in our evolutionary biological history?
Some scientists seem to think so…they think we suffer from back pain because we’re walking around in bodies that were not designed for living upright. Our spines evolved for life as quadrupeds—walking on all fours—and not for the upright, bipedal life we now lead.
To really understand why our backs are giving us such a hard time, we’ve got to go back about 7 million years. At this point in time, our earliest ancestors, currently considered to be Sahelanthropus, moved from quadruped living to bipedal living. Possible reasons are an enhanced ability to spot predators and ease of reaching fruits and berries. Although this ancestor, considered to be the closest humans were to the common ape ancestor was shifting to a bipedal life, its body was still that of a quadruped. Their spines were evolved for this. Bipedalism was perhaps better for traits advantageous to survival, but bad for how spines were adapted to distribute load. In one position, the spine is close to horizontal, like a suspension bridge. Upright, its now loaded top down, like a skyscraper. Both these structures are able to support load, but they do so in very different ways. Can you imagine trying to flip a suspension bridge vertically and then being surprised if it suffers a structural failure?
When our ancestors shifted to walking upright, their spines underwent several major changes, and not all of them were beneficial.
The S-Curve
If you look at a human spine, it’s shaped like an “S.” This curve helps balance our weight over our hips and feet, which is crucial for staying upright. But this S-shape is also inherently unstable and prone to problems. In quadrupeds, the spine is more like a gentle arch, distributing weight evenly. But when you tilt that structure upright, gravity starts pulling down on different parts of the spine in ways that cause wear and tear over time. This is could explain herniated discs, sciatica, and all sorts of lower back issues.
The Lumbar Region
The biggest problem area for people? The lumbar spine. This lower part of the back takes most of the load when we walk, run, or even just stand. Because of the curvature of the lumbar spine, it’s constantly under pressure, and that pressure can lead to degeneration of the intervertebral discs. This is why lower back pain is by far the most common type of back pain. Our lumbar spines weren’t built to handle vertical load over a lifetime, especially if we consider modern human lifespans vs our ancestors.
Pelvis Shape
Another adaptation from bipedalism was a change in the shape and orientation of the pelvis. Our pelvis had to widen and tilt forward to support our upright posture. But this change also tightened and shortened the muscles in our lower backs and hamstrings, making us more prone to strain and stiffness. Tightness in your lower back after a long day of sitting? Blame your pelvis—it’s trying to stabilise a structure that wasn’t originally designed for this purpose at all.
Okay, so evolution may have left us with a fragile spine, but modern life has turned that into an unforeseen disaster. We no longer spend our days walking, hunting, gathering, and varying positions. We spend hours sitting at desks, hunched over laptops, and slouching on sofas. None of this is good for your body. In fact, sitting is arguably the worst thing we do to our spines. When we sit for long periods, the natural curve of the lumbar spine flattens out, putting extra pressure on the discs. This compresses the spine and strains the surrounding muscles, which can lead to chronic pain.
Then there’s ‘tech neck’, a modern condition where constantly looking down at our phones or computers puts strain on the cervical spine. The human head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds, but when you tilt it forward to look at a device, that weight can feel more like 50 to 60 pounds, due to moving the load away from the centre of mass.
So we’re stuck with this problematic spine due to our common ancestors, but that doesn’t mean we’re doomed to suffer forever! There are indeed things we can do to mitigate the effects of our evolutionary design:
Move More, Sit Less! The more we move, the happier our spines are. Frequent movement helps lubricate the discs, strengthen core muscles, and improve flexibility. If you have a desk job, try to stand up, stretch, or walk around every 30-60 minutes. You might even look into a standing desk!
A strong core is essential for spinal stability, something physical therapists have got right for sure. Planks, bridges, and other core-strengthening exercises can help take some of the load off your lumbar spine.
To conclude this week: our backbones are a relic of a quadruped based past. They have just been retrofitted for life as a biped. Whilst it is definitely a flawed design, we can do things to keep our spines more healthy. More movement and core strengthening and maybe even thinking about not slouching over devices can help and might be a more attractive proposition than us going back to knuckle-dragging quadruped living!
I hope everyone has a great week and if you want to send me an email, then please do so on getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com.
Get-Fit Guy is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to the team at Quick and Dirty Tips Morgan Christianson, Holly Hutchings, the director of podcasts Brennan Goetschius and Davina Tomlin. I’m your host, Kevin Don. If you have a question for me, leave me a voicemail at 510-353-3104 or send me an email at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com. For more information about the show, visit quickanddirtytips.com, or check out the shownotes in your podcast app