Upright Citizens

Here's an interesting article in the new National Geographic about how walking on two legs is the root of all evil. Well, almost. "The Downside of Upright" claims that it is downright impossible for us humans to walk upright! Yet walk upright we do; *ahem* some of us more than others. The article states that the plethora of back, knee and hip difficulties, as well as the risks of childbirth suffered by us bipedals could be largely avoided if we gave up the whole "free hands" thing, grew our arms longer and walked on all fours. Our spinal column originally evolved as an arch, not the weight bearing column it acts as now.

... the lower region of the [vertebral] column suffers from the excessive pressure and oblique force exerted on its curved structure by our upright posture.

In my case, and how.

Basically, the vertebrae in the back are wedge shaped, this shape being most pronounced in the lower back. These wedges, along with the "S" curves in our spines (developed in response to an upright posture) and with the discs in between the vertebrae, is what allows us to flex and twist and bend.

In my case, at least one of my lumbar discs is narrowing at the front, causing me to pitch forward. The cause of the narrowing, is of course, Degenerative Disc Disease, which I already knew, but it doesn't make standing upright any easier for me, in fact, it's downright impossible.