Publisher's Synopsis
It is rare that someone in their life has not experienced at least once back pain, which used to be called sciatica, but now it is more often called osteochondrosis.
"Three doctors have four opinions," says folk wisdom. And when it comes to such a disease as osteochondrosis of the spine, the number of versions increases: today there are at least one and a half dozen theories of the occurrence of this disease.
The disease of osteochondrosis occurs among the animal species of our planet only in Homo sapiens. Why did a reasonable person anger mother nature so much, how does he fundamentally differ from his fellows in the animal world? Just the fact that he dared to tear two of the four paws off the ground and lean on it with just one pair of limbs. But to say that osteochondrosis is a curse of bipedalism, perhaps, is not entirely legitimate. By itself, walking upright is not so dangerous - the spine in the process of evolution has acquired a number of adaptations to compensate for vertical loads. The thing is different - the modern way of life gives us little chance to use these compensations. The life of the inhabitants of large cities is organized in such a way that the spine does not experience any noticeable twisting, tilting, or bending. Its only mechanical function is to resist gravity, and this does not require any mobility at all. The most complex joints of the spine are, in fact, superfluous. Roughens, thins and deforms the cartilage of the intervertebral discs. Numerous ligaments grow and tightly braid the vertebrae. In such a state, sometimes the slightest sudden, yesterday still accessible movement threatens with trouble. A person is always in a kind of pre-radiculitis state. He begins to move extremely carefully and clumsily, as if foreseeing that at any moment something in his body could be shattered. The habit formed during a sedentary lifestyle to relax the muscles of the back leads to stoop, poor mobility of the cervical vertebrae. And for this, no mobility is required at all. The most complex joints of the spine are, in fact, superfluous. Roughens, thins and deforms the cartilage of the intervertebral discs. Numerous ligaments grow and tightly braid the vertebrae. In such a state, sometimes the slightest sudden, yesterday still accessible movement threatens with trouble.
