Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-10-02
CROOKED BACKBUNES.
svERYBODY'S SPINE HAS A PECUL-
lar s-sHAPED CURVE.

Malforma tion-His Theory of Exercise.
Use tho Extensor Muscles.
The very newest thing in physiculturo is
the spine curve and how to correct it; for
prevented absolutely it cannot be, 1t seems,
without almost a revolution in our meth
DDS of life. The straighter the spine the
healthier the man, this is the newest prin-
ciple cnuncatod by Edwin Checkley, who
is the strongest man Of his weight in tho
world, and overwhelmingly reaffirmed by
sill those experts in the perfection of tho
human frame to whose attention it has
been brought home.
In all the gymnasia and athletic clubs
you hear people talking of 1.-THE S curve of
the spine and how to correct it."
THE human spine is always curved"
Checkley declares, and this curvature is
caused by the incorrectness of the position
Of the body in Infancy, when we learn to
walk and run. 1t il, however, by no
means necessary evil, although it is a
very serious one. 1t can and ought to be
corrected.
"If nature intended a mans spine TO be
curved she would have made this curva-
ture at least uniform enough to enable the
student to strike nm average. But I main
tain, az n result Of investigation recently
made by me, row first announced, that in
] 900 men, say Of uniform height of ,
feet inches, and of uniform weight, YOU
will find on close examination no two
,pines as nearly alike even as the two cor
responding faces 10 obtain these meas
urementsI have used machine of my own
invention. | was n mechanical engineer,
you know by profession and devoted my
life work to the Improvement of man from
physical point Of view, just for the love
of the thing. The machine TO which l re-
fer is a simple application of straight
ruler to a wheel upon which II IS lnude to
revOlve. 70 obtain from it an exact repro
duction Of the curvature of any indiyidu-
ais spine l run this wheel up and down
the backbone and trace its outline from
the base of the brain to the sacrum or base
OF the spine.
TO CORRECT TIE CURVE.
"7his uniform but absolutely variable
curvature Of the spine is caused by the re-
taxation of the muscles of the body, the
weight of which il thus allowed to sinh;
ont Of healthful and proper position, drag
Fng down the spine with it. Now, if iu-
stsud of this relaxation Of the muscles they
were kept habitually teuse-and | will cX-
plain just how tense in "A few moments
AS they are in infancy. the result would be
straight and not curved spine.
"Feusion of the muscles in an unframed
adult is diagnosed by medical men and
recognized by physical experts as Il sign of
NERVOUSNESS. But the person in whon
teuseness Of muscle warrants such an in
ference would, if trained from infancy to
ucn.,ir.,I ,yifboi,t effort mud iuIacd Iinc.n.
scii,l.ly - natural and aureaobla and
bealtbiul tarscrcss of ,uu.cle Thus in.
dcel The muscles would have been trained
Lv .iu,olo will mower 70 s,lnnort the body
and keen the sui,.c strnjcbt. And hv ten.
sion of muscles here do not mean rigjd.
inv. Lnt. on the contrary. an oasv ucxi-
biljty
"Tba following directions If conscicn-
tiou.l, flII 1y..j will i'm q short time r,,.
b,o.;,Iy onoto restore the s,ine almost If
not quite to H., uerpepdicular uosition:
"Turu the relvis back and hen draw he
hood ho,E and lfft II nm Maintain +ba
fac,..ot rigi+ ANGLES IN tha floor ard walk
ee lor,, ms c,,,,v,.uiart ,vitb q ,uo+ion al,n.
c.tiar from nh. hin Joints and NOT from
tho waist or IN. knees Pursuit of thi.
,dvica rn,.ilIo,Jv for "a f.v minutes morn.
inc and rypuiuf, will in a voudprful II Y
short tin,r. nrnye of the most marked
benefit
LABOR AND EXERCISE.
LET any man. however devoted TO phvs
zeal exercise he NAV be. satisfy himself OF
the almost universal prevalence Of this re.
markable physical malforuation bvtakinn
a three foot ruler and having it along the
spine the outer clothing having of course,
been removed. The effort to keep thespine
in contact with this ruler simultaneously
throughout its length Will be so great n,
at once to convince the ,,,-t incredtlou.
of what | say. OF course one must breathe
and walk in that nosition.
"All movement is an exDenditure Of en-
cry and every expenditure of energy i,
exercise. whether made for pleasure or for
work. or in the definite pursuit Of som,
ultimate object other than pleasure The
question. il seems to me is exceedingly
natural. WHY isn't p lal,orer-a lonosbore
man. for example-an Apollo Eelyeiere in
Grure instead Of heinz. rs he generally is
a rough and clumsy fellow WHY isn't the
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