HOW THE DAMAGE IS DONE: THE EFFECTS OF MOVEMENT
Any muscular activity and movement causes some increase in spinal stress. If you stand on the bathroom scales and watch the pointer while you raise your arms, you will see it move up. The force needed to lift the arms is passed down your spine to your feet and (via the scales) to the floor. The same is true of every other activity – pushing, pulling, carrying, getting up, sitting down.
Body movements that are caused by outside forces also cause stress on the spine. Most forms of transport, from horses and bicycles to trains and buses, bounce and jolt the human frame; apart from jolts and jars, most people occasionally stumble or fall. The force of all such vibrations is imparted to and resisted by the spine, but in most cases it suffers no serious injury, because of its capacity for absorbing shocks. It converts the energy into movement by going with the impact instead of resisting it and alters the quality of the applied force, so that it is less likely to cause injury.
The function of converting force into movement is a vital one. Unless some of the applied energy can be quickly converted into movement, it will break bones or cause other injury. In young and supple people, much more movement can be produced than in someone old and stiff, and they can therefore take more punishment than the elderly. As well as being more mobile, the structures in a young spine can bend or change shape more readily in response to loads and muscular tension. This is why the young are better than old people at ‘taking’ forces and reducing them.
Spinal functions also include a safety mechanism: namely, protective backache or. pain. Pain is information and mainly of value in giving warning of postural stress. It is not so effective at preventing injury caused when something proves too heavy to lift or will not move because it is, unexpectedly, stuck – then the pain may come too late.
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