Building Sound Bones and Muscles [antikvár]

CHAPTER 1 A curious arrangement for living upright New ways to fix the frame A divinely built mansion Building strength into the structure The Importance of food Joints for a lifetime of flexibility Matched muscles for every movement Imagine a somewhat rubbery, irregularly shaped contraption weighing perhaps 100 to 200 pounds, measuring some five or six feet in length and containing a number of internal sticks and posts, most of which do not touch each other. Such an object would appear to be lumpish and unmanageable. Prop it up on one end, somehow balancing it on the two narrow, flexible protuberances that seem meant as supports, and it turns out to be top-heavy. How can it ever stand up? Yet it does—for minutes, months, a lifetime. Not only that, it moves. It can perform cartwheels, climb mountains, heft dumbbells, hurl balls at almost 100 miles an hour, pole-vault 18 feet and execute a ballerina's arabesques. It is that most extraordinary contrivance, the human body. Tough, efficient, it owes its power and versatility—as well as its grace—to an intricate, ingeniously connected system of bones and muscles that actually improves with use. A cage held up by elastic bands, the human frame endures as a working monument to the defiance of the laws of physics. Few things in life bring so much pleasure as a well-functioning frame. By the same token, few things can be as iiritating and painful as bones and muscles that have fallen victim to the multifarious ills that can beset them. While accommodating endless intricate movement over the years, bones and muscles absorb an immense amount of wear and tear and even abuse. Poor habits can bring on backaches and foot aches, accidents can strain muscles and break bones, illness can leave joints inflamed and ultimately immobile. According to authorities at the Yale University School of Medicine, ailments of the frame rank first among disease groups that affect the quality of life. In total economic cost they are second only to diseases of the heart and blood vessels—$20 billion annually is spent on them in the United States. About 20 million Americans are affected by these diseases; in any year one person in 10 can expect to suffer a fracture, dislocation, sprain or strain. A survey in Sweden found that 60 per cent of adult men had endured low-back pain. Furthermore, commented the Yale experts, "arthritis is almost universal in the elderly." Contemporary life often gets the blame for the troubles people have with their bones and muscles. Certainly the painful whiplash injury, which helps bring more than eight million dollars a year to the makers of braces in the. United States, was almost unknown before the invention of the automobile; and the spiral fracture of the tibia, one of the lower leg bones, was similarly rare until downhill skiing became a mass sport after Worid War II. In addition, labor-saving machinery and sit-down jobs have eliminated exertions that once kept muscles strong and joints limber. The results are sprains, aching backs, inflammation and stiffness. But a major fault lies in the magnificent frame itself and is an unfortunate by-product of evolution. The epochal move by some human ancestor several million years ago, in which he swung out of the trees and began walking not on all fours but erect, the torso vertical instead of horizontal, conferred on him certain unique advantages. Standing tall, these early humans could see farther and move faster, and their hands