OT: “The Posture Pandemic.”

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Au contraire, mon frere. I did read the whole article. Not that I necessarily had to. The crux of the author’s argument is contained in the first response to the interviewer:

“Nice to meet you.”

“Your posture looks pretty good. And it doesn’t matter — that’s the whole point of my book. It’s fake news.”

The question isn’t of blame, but whether or not good posture matters. And it definitely does. One article of many: https://www.wellnessforthebody.com/p...om-home-slouch

If your daily routine has you looking like the people in the pictures, you have to make some corrections.

The quote above is just the first question of the interview, but the answer to the second question gives better context for the reset of the interview. The 1st and 2nd questions:

Nice to meet you.

Your posture looks pretty good. And it doesn’t matter — that’s the whole point of my book. It’s fake news.

Our obsession with great posture is fake news? I’m off the hook!

Concern for posture, as a matter of etiquette, has been around since the Enlightenment, if not earlier, but poor posture did not become a scientific and medical obsession until after the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” in 1859. He posited that humans evolved through natural selection, and that the first thing to develop was bipedalism; in other words, standing upright preceded brain development.

In other words, the author's interest isn't poor posture itself, their interest is with the obsession with poor posture.


Even more illuminating is the book description from the publisher, particularly the last sentence:

Princeton University Press: Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America

Beth Linker

The strange and surprising history of the so-called epidemic of bad posture in modern America—from eugenics and posture pageants to today’s promoters of “paleo posture”.

In 1995, a scandal erupted when the New York Times revealed that the Smithsonian possessed a century’s worth of nude “posture” photos of college students. In this riveting history, Beth Linker tells why these photos were only a small part of the incredible story of twentieth-century America’s largely forgotten posture panic—a decades-long episode in which it was widely accepted as scientific fact that Americans were suffering from an epidemic of bad posture, with potentially catastrophic health consequences. Tracing the rise and fall of this socially manufactured epidemic, Slouch also tells how this period continues to feed today’s widespread anxieties about posture.

In the early twentieth century, the eugenics movement and fears of disability gave slouching a new scientific relevance. Bad posture came to be seen as an individual health threat, an affront to conventional race hierarchies, and a sign of American decline. What followed were massive efforts to measure, track, and prevent slouching and, later, back pain—campaigns that reached schools, workplaces, and beyond, from the creation of the American Posture League to posture pageants. The popularity of posture-enhancing products, such as girdles and lumbar supports, exploded, as did new fitness programs focused on postural muscles, such as Pilates and modern yoga. By 1970, student protests largely brought an end to school posture exams and photos, but many efforts to fight bad posture continued, despite a lack of scientific evidence.

A compelling history that mixes seriousness and humor, Slouch is a unique and provocative account of the unexpected origins of our largely unquestioned ideas about bad posture.

[Peter P.]

To me, posture is body language and more than just a result of physicality. While just a single factor, combined with other physical and mental cues, together they can provide accurate conclusions about people.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I don’t think we really know anything about the human body

My oldest kid had a cyst removed from her wrist last week.
Scans showed where it was, which aligned with visual confirmation. It was decided the best route would be to cut it out rather than aspirate. She went fully under with anesthesia. The cyst was removed and the tendon was roughed up to ensure it heals in a way that reduces the chance of another cyst forming near that spot in the future. She was then brought out to wake up and will have the wrap removed next week.

None of that simple procedure or complex process to perform the simple procedure would be possible if we knew nothing about the human body.

There are endless similar examples.

[rkhatibi]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

To me, posture is body language and more than just a result of physicality. While just a single factor, combined with other physical and mental cues, together they can provide accurate conclusions about people.

The book appears to argue that posture is no better than phrenology, racism included, in judging character which seems reasonable based on the current state of body language research.

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by rkhatibi

The book appears to argue that posture is no better than phrenology, racism included, in judging character which seems reasonable based on the current state of body language research.

Let me put it another way:

Poor posture gives bad IMPRESSION. Unfortunately, we can't stop people from coming to knee jerk conclusions upon seeing a person with poor posture, bad teeth, or other physical characteristics, but perception becomes reality and can negatively impact the judged.

[dmitrik4]

Originally Posted by benb

I'd bet there's a bibliography in this book showing that the science indeed never did justify a lot of what gets touted as important & true on the subject.

You're right it's to push a book, but the book could still be correct, and it does sound like an interesting book.

The reaction here is much akin to what you'd expect here if someone had come out with an expose book on the supplements industry and lack of evidence that supplements targeted at cyclists work.

Bingo

[dmitrik4]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

The quote above is just the first question of the interview, but the answer to the second question gives better context for the reset of the interview. The 1st and 2nd questions:



In other words, the author's interest isn't poor posture itself, their interest is with the obsession with poor posture.


Even more illuminating is the book description from the publisher, particularly the last sentence:

^^this. The posts on whether posture actually has health effects are completely beside the point.