The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-09-24

CROOKED BACKB0NES.
EvERYBopY's SPINE HAS A PEcUL-
Jar s-sHAPED CURVE.


STalformatiOn-His Theory of Exercise.
Use the Exteusor Muscles.
The very newest thing in physiculture il
The spine curve and how to correct it; for
prevented absolutely it cannot be, it seems.
without almost revolution in our meth
DDS of life The straighter the spine the
healthier the man; this is the newest prin-
ciple enunciated by Edwin Checkley, who
is the strongest man of his weight in the
world, and unquestioningly reafirmed by
all those experts in the perfection of the
human frame to whose attention it has
been brought home.
In all the gymnasia and athletic clubs
you hear people talking of ''the S curve of
the spine and how TO correct it."
1.-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 is, however by no
means necessary evil, although it is a
very serious one. 1t can and ought to be
corrected.
a
curved, she would have made this curvs-
ture at least uniform enough to enable the
student to strike an average But main
tain, as a result of investigation recently
made by me, now first announced, that in
1000 men, say of a uniform height of 5
feet 6 inches, and of uniform weight, you
will find on close examination no two
spines as nearly alike even as the two cor
responding faces To obtain these meas
urements have-used machine of my own
invention. / was a 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 re-
fer is simple application of a straight
ruler to a wheel upon which it is made to
revClve To obtain from it an exact repro
duction of the curvature of any individu-
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 THE CURVE.
"This uniform but absolutely variable
curvature of the spine is caused by the re-
Taxation of the muscles of the body, the
weight of which is thus allowed to sink
out of healthful and proper position, drag
ging down the spine with it. Now, if in
stead of this relaxation of the muscles they
were kept habitually tense-and l will ex-
plain Just how tense in few moments
as they are in infancy, the result would be
a straight and not curved spine.
Tension of the muscles in an unframed
adult is diagnosed by medical men and
recognized by physical experts as sign of
nervousness. But the person in whom
tenseness of muscle warrants such an in
ference would, If trained from infancy to
hold himself erect and walk properly, have
acquired without effort and indeed uncon-
sciously, a natural and agreeable and
healthful tenseness of muscle. Thus, in
deed, the muscles would have been trained
by simple will power to support the body
and keep the spine straight And by ten
sion of muscles here do not mean rigid
ity but, on the contrary, an easy fiexi-
bility.
1.-The following directions, if conscien-
tiously followed, will in a short time ena-
BILE any one TO restore the spine almost if
not quite to its perpendicular position:
Turn the pelvis back and then draw the
head back and lift it up. Maintain the
face at right angles TO the floor and walk
as long as convenient with a motion alto
gether from the hip joints and not from
the waist or the knees. Pursuit of this
advice regularly for a few minutes morn
ing and evening will, in a wonderfully
short time, prove of the most marked
benefit.
LABOR AND EXERCISE.
"Let any man, however devoted to phys
zeal exercise he may be, satisfy himself OF
the almost universal prevalence of this re-
markable physical maiformation by taking
a three foot ruler and laying it along the
spine the outer clothing having, of course,
been removed. The effort to keep the spine
in contact with this ruler simultaneously
throughout its length will be so great as
at once to convince the most incredulous
of what | say. OF course one must breathe
and walk in that position.
"All movement is an expenditure of en-
ergy and every expenditure of energy is
exercise, whether made for pleasure or for
work, or in the definite pursuit of some
ultimate object other than pleasure. The
question, it seems to me, is exceedingly
natural: Why isn't laborer-a longshore
man, for example-an Apollo Belvedere in
figure instead of being, as he generally is,
a rough and clumsy fellow Why isn't the
constant exertion which he makes for at
least eight hours day calculated to de-
velop his body toward physical perfectionS
Why is it, as a matter of fact, that his
only advantage over his weather. brethren
in the brotherhood of humanity-brethren
who never do a stroke of work, for exam
pie. and perhaps never exercises that he
can eat and assimilate food which they
would not put before dog?
1.-The only way to develop the lungs is to
inhale fresh air into them, and permit them
to expand to their fullest the muscles OF
the shoulders and chest, or 10 to be pliable
instead of tense. Most people carry their
shoulders up and maintain such tense
ness of the shoulder and chest muscles as
absolutely prevents the lungs ever expand
ing 10 their normal limit.
PROPER EXERCISE.
eff the exercising of the unused muscles
Is necessary to keep the body healthy and
strong and agile, every movement now
popularity supposed 20 constitute exercise
should be abandoned, since there is no
movement in all our daily lives which
doesn't force four times as much work
upon the fiexnr as upon the eXtenscr mus
cles. Stretching is the kind OF exercise
that most of our muscles need and which
they seldom get. You will see a man in
the morning, after a long nights SLEEP,
stretching himself-that is. giving to the
extensor muscles the exercise which they
crave and seldom get. Ny advice for exer-
else is, work the extensors. For this pur-
pose there is no machine made except q
trapeze or horizontal bar which will &C
complish the purpose.
lone of the very best ways IN the world
- IS - lie Sovrn nd 81 x-nt,r-