Evolution is a pain in your back

Photo from an article on DeSilva's work with the evolution of bipedality in Bostonia.

If you've dealt with back problems you aren't alone. But did you know that as a species we've had this problem since before we were human? Even poor Lucy suffered from a bad back. Professor Jeremy DeSilva from Boston University (Go Terriers!) was interviewed by CNN about how our bipedal evolution has led to our many back and foot problems. Since we started out as quadrupeds  our spines weren't made for walking upright. To adjust for issues of balance, our spine has a S shape but this causes further complications later in life. Likewise, the arches in our feet help us run and absorbs shock, but arch pain is a common reason for visiting a podiatrist. If engineers were to design the human spine, hips, and feet we'd probably look more like animals that have been bipedal much longer such as ostriches. But as Jeremy DeSilva said in the interview:

"We've known for a long time, since Darwin’s time, that humans have evolved, and that humans are not perfect, because evolution doesn't produce perfection," said Jeremy DeSilva, anthropologist at Boston University.

If you're interested in learning about this issue in more depth than a CNN article provides, check out DeSilva's lecture from Boston University's Unintelligent Design: The Scars of Human Evolution webcast. And you can read his statement from that presentation here and read more about his work on these issues here.