Back Pain: S-Curves, J-Curves, and Childhood Nutrition

A naked woman walking. Notice the S-curve of the spine.
Collotype after Eadward Muybridge, 1887. wikimedia commons

In the past few days, I've been seeing NPR's report on Esther Gokhale's work on spinal curves appear on my newsfeed. Gokhale traveled the world to study societies that don't suffer from back pain and discovered that these peoples have a J-curve of the spine, rather than the assumed "healthy" S-curve that we in western, back-pain plagued cultures know.

I have my own theory about this: Unnatural early childhood nutrition causes the prevalence of S-curved spines in developed countries. Some of you know that I've been obsessing about teeth lately, and here I see the connection. 

Nature's Perfect Smile

No braces needed here. Natural smiles (clockwise from upper left corner) 

from Tibet, Afghanistan, Gambia, and Polynesia.

images: wikimedia commons

My baby refused to drink from bottles at 8 weeks. I panicked because I had to go back to work part-time. But then I realized that she was protecting her future teeth, her health, and her pretty face.