Photo: laurencerouault/Pixabay/Reproduction
It is believed that the position Neanderthals It is completely different from what we see in modern humans. Evidence already indicates that we, sane manWe do have lumbar (lower back) vertebrae more curved than our cousins, but this story might be half a novel.
Many of the spines analyzed so far belong to post-industrial humans. An international team of researchers is beginning to suspect that this fact can interfere with reality, thus changing our perception of back pain. So they decided to compare vertebrae from Neanderthals, pre- and post-industrial humans.
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In the research, 300 spines were analyzed, with a total of 1,600 vertebrae. As a result, scholars realized that the columns of Neanderthals were significantly different from the columns of post-industrial, but not pre-industrial peoples. The full study was published in the scientific journal Nexus PNAS.
There is a very simple explanation: industrialization has made humans more stable. The end of the 19th century was accompanied by jobs that allowed employees to sit at tables, for example. In addition, the number of workers standing in the field decreased.
In this way, the difference between the backbones will not occur for evolutionary reasons, but for living and working conditions. Previous studies indicate that higher rates of back pain are primarily associated with urban and office environments.
Lumbar lordosis results from the corners of the vertebrae and intervertebral discs – the joints that give the spine flexibility. Scott Williams, study author, explained in report This resulted in lower levels of physical activity, poor posture and use of furniture, resulting in insufficient soft tissue structures to handle this change.
“To compensate, our lower back bones assumed more angles than our pre-industrial and Neanderthal predecessors, which may contribute to the frequency of lower back pain we find in post-industrial societies.”
