美国国家公共电台 NPR To Fix That Pain In Your Back, You Might Have To Change The Way You Sit

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Researchers have been looking at how Americans are sitting and how bad it is for our health. Some have even called sitting the new smoking. And they say it's contributing to an epidemic¹ of back pain. But what if the problem isn't how much we're sitting but the way we are doing it? NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff explains how Americans have lost the art of sitting and how they can get it back.

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE²: There's this idea that Americans sit way more than any other culture out there, that for the first time in human history we've created a sitting culture. But David Raichlen at the University of Arizona says that's not actually correct.

DAVID RAICHLEN: No. I mean, not from our data.

DOUCLEFF: Raichlen is an anthropologist³. He studies modern hunter-gatherers.

RAICHLEN: We work with this group, the Hadza, out in Tanzania.

DOUCLEFF: The Hadza's lifestyle is about as close as you can get to seeing how early human ancestors might have lived. Today the Hadza live off wild food - think tubers, honey, barbecued porcupines⁴. And to get this food, there's no doubt they are active.

RAICHLEN: They climb. They do a lot of upper body work when they pound nuts and they do a lot of digging and that kind of a thing.

DOUCLEFF: On average, they spend about 75 minutes each day exercising, which is way more than most Americans do. But do the Hadza sit less than we do? No one had actually gone out and measured it, so Raichlen and his team strapped⁵ heart rate monitors onto nearly 50 Hadza adults, then measured how often each day they were just, well, sitting around. The results shocked him.

RAICHLEN: It's, like, 10 hours a day. So it's about as much as we are.

DOUCLEFF: Ten hours each day - that's basically what I do at my desk each day. But here's the thing. The Hadza don't seem to have the back issues that we Americans have even as they age.

RAICHLEN: People are highly active across the lifespan. You know, there are some declines in activity with age, but nowhere near what you get in the U.S.

DOUCLEFF: So I asked him if he thinks the problem isn't how much Americans sit but the way we sit.

RAICHLEN: Yeah, I definitely think that that's probably a big part of the story.

DOUCLEFF: Now, I know what you might be thinking. Raichlen is an anthropologist, not an expert on backs or back pain. But Dr. Nomi Khan is. He's a spine⁶ surgeon at Sutter Health's Palo Alto Medical Foundation. And he agrees with Raichlen.

NOMI KHAN: Most of us do not sit well. So we've certainly been putting a lot more stress on our spines⁷.

DOUCLEFF: So do you think if we change the way we sit it could help to decrease back problems?

KHAN: Yes. I think we should sit less, and I think we should sit better.

DOUCLEFF: That's a key difference between us and the Hadza. They, unlike us, know how to sit. Khan says that most people here, even kids, have gotten in the habit of sitting in one particular way that is hurting our backs. You might not realize you're doing it, but it's super easy to see in other people. Here's an experiment. Go over to somebody sitting down or look across the office. Don't look face on but from the side so you can see the shape of their backs. There's a high chance their back is curving like the letter C. The shoulders curve over, and the butt⁸ or bottom curves under.

KHAN: Most people, they round out their back when they sit.

DOUCLEFF: For some people it looks more like a cashew nut than a C. But Khan says it's still bad for the back.

KHAN: So that's the improper⁹ way of sitting. Their spine is in an improper position. And they tend to have more back problems.

DOUCLEFF: The back problems crop up because over time, sitting like a C can damage spinal¹⁰ disks. William Marras directs the Spine Research Institute at Ohio State University.

WILLIAM MARRAS: So this is this little shock absorber in between the vertebrae that allows you to move and bend and twist. And when that thing gets messed up, you've got real problems.

DOUCLEFF: You can think of the spinal disks as these little jelly doughnuts stuffed with soft, gooey jam. Sitting like a C presses on one side of the doughnut. If you do it long enough, some of the jelly can squirt out.

MARRAS: That's very bad for the disks because it can push against nerves, and it can rupture¹¹. And - so everything we do in biomechanics typically tries to protect that.

DOUCLEFF: So how do you straight out the C and start protecting those disks? Jenn Sherer has been helping¹² people do just that for eight years at her studio in Palo Alto. She says our culture focuses on trying to fix the upper body. We hear people say sit up straight, and the first thing we do is stick our chest out.

JENN SHERER: You say the word spine, and that's what everyone does, is they lift their chest 'cause they want to have proper posture¹³. And I'm like, no, that's what causes more back pain.

DOUCLEFF: That's going to make things worse?

SHERER: Yes, it makes things worse.

DOUCLEFF: Instead, Sherer says, we need to focus on another body part, one that's farther down, below the waist.

SHERER: The pelvis.

DOUCLEFF: Or another way to put it - focus on your bottom.

SHERER: The most important thing to change to reduce back pain is your pelvis position. It's like blocks. If the blocks at the bottom aren't set and aren't sturdy, then the top has no chance.

DOUCLEFF: So to fix your pelvis, Sherer says you have to imagine that you have a tail just like a dog right at the base of your spine.

SHERER: We need the pelvis to be positioned in a way where if you had a tail, it could wag.

DOUCLEFF: In other words, for proper spine alignment¹⁴, your bottom needs to be out behind your spine. Sherer says right now most people do the opposite. We tuck our tails under when we sit.

SHERER: Sitting within a C curve, you'd be sitting on your tail.

DOUCLEFF: So it's kind of like a dog that has his tail between his legs.

SHERER: Yes, very scared or frightened.

DOUCLEFF: And so then how do we get our tail out?

SHERER: Do you want me to teach you?

DOUCLEFF: Yeah, sure, sure, sure.

Sherer says before you sit, have your legs about 12 inches apart. As you sit...

SHERER: Poke¹⁵ your butt out.

DOUCLEFF: Toward the back of your chair so when you land on the chair, your bottom is behind your spine. You can kind of put your hand back there and check. Sherer says that when that happens, your tail untucks, and some muscles in your legs will start to relax.

SHERER: Can you feel that?

DOUCLEFF: Ooh, yeah.

And for me, this muscle relaxation¹⁶ felt really good.

SHERER: You feel all those releases?

DOUCLEFF: Ooh, it's tingling¹⁷. It's tingling, like, up my body. Wow.

For decades, I've been sitting with my pelvis tucked in. And it wasn't easy to fix. But I've had a lot of back pain, so I was motivated to try this. I spent months working to get my tail to come out so it could wag. And after mastering it, I thought I'd give Dr. Nomi Khan visit to see what he thought.

KHAN: You're sitting perfectly¹⁸ because what you're doing is you're basically sticking your butt backwards¹⁹.

DOUCLEFF: Which allows my spine to stay straight, protecting those all-important spinal disks. Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF VUREZ'S "GLORIOUS CRYSTAL GLEAM")

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

4 porcupines   

n.豪猪，箭猪( porcupine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Porcupines use their spines to protect themselves. 豪猪用身上的刺毛来自卫。
• The59 victims so far include an elephant, dromedaries, monkeys and porcupines. 目前为止，死亡的动物包括大象、峰骆驼、子以及豪猪。 来自互联网

5 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

7 spines   

n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊

参考例句：

• Porcupines use their spines to protect themselves. 豪猪用身上的刺毛来自卫。
• The cactus has spines. 仙人掌有刺。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

9 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

10 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

11 rupture   

n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂

参考例句：

• I can rupture a rule for a friend.我可以为朋友破一次例。
• The rupture of a blood vessel usually cause the mark of a bruise.血管的突然破裂往往会造成外伤的痕迹。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

14 alignment   

n.队列；结盟，联合

参考例句：

• The church should have no political alignment.教会不应与政治结盟。
• Britain formed a close alignment with Egypt in the last century.英国在上个世纪与埃及结成了紧密的联盟。

15 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

16 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

17 tingling   

v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• My ears are tingling [humming; ringing; singing]. 我耳鸣。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My tongue is tingling. 舌头发麻。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

19 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。