The Hygiene of Bones, Nerves, and Muscles

A Handbook of Health
by Woods Hutchinson

(Page 22 of 31)

How to Get and Keep A Good Figure

Erect Position is the Result of Vigorous Health. Naturally and properly, an erect, graceful figure and a good carriage have always been keenly desired; and much attention has been paid to the best means of acquiring them; as we say, we try to "get the habit" of carrying ourselves straight and well. But it must be remembered that an erect figure and a good carriage are the results of health and vigor, rather than the cause of them.

Stooping, round shoulders, sitting "all hunched up," or a shuffling gait, are owing partly to bad habits, or "slouchiness," but chiefly to weak muscles and a badly-fed nervous system, often due to a poor digestion and a weak circulation. If a child is not healthy and vigorous, then no amount of drilling or reminders to "sit straight" and "stand erect" will make him do so.

It is of great importance that the child should take an erect and correct position for reading and writing, and while sitting at his desk; and that the desk and the seat should fit him. But it is more important that he should not sit at his desk in a stuffy room long enough to be harmed by a cramped position.

There are few children who will "hump over" at their desks, if the muscles of their backs and necks are strong and vigorous, and their brains well ventilated. Nor will many of them bore their noses into their books, or sprawl all over their copy books when they write, unless the light is poor, or they have some defect of the eyes which has not been corrected by proper glasses. A bad position or a bad carriage in a child is a sign of ill health, and should be treated by the removal of its cause.

Curvatures - Their Cause and Cure. There are various forms of curvatures, or bendings, of the spine which are supposed to be owing to faulty positions of sitting or of carrying the body. There is wide difference of opinions as to their cause; but this all are agreed on, that they practically never occur in sturdy, well-grown, active children; and the way that they are now corrected is by careful systems of balancing, muscular exercise, open-air life, and abundant feeding, instead of using steel braces, or jackets, or schoolroom drills.

Much the same is true of other deformities and defects of the body, as, for instance, round shoulders, or "flat-foot," or even such serious ones as "club-foot" and "bow-legs." Nearly all these are caused by the weakness or wrong action of some muscle, or groups of muscles. If this be long continued or neglected, the bones - which, you will remember, were made by the muscles in the first place - will be warped out of shape. When this has occurred, it is often necessary to bring back the limb, or foot, into a nearly straight position by mechanical or surgical means; but we now largely depend upon muscular exercises combined with rubbing and massage with the hand, and on building up the general vigor of the entire body, so that the muscles will pull the limb or the backbone back into proper position. Take care of the muscles, and the bones will take care of themselves! Make the body strong, vigorous, and happy, and it will "hold" and "carry" itself.

Our Feet

The Living Arches of the Foot. One of the most important things to look after, if we wish to have an erect carriage and a swift, graceful gait, is the shape and vigor of the feet. Each foot consists of two springy, living arches of bone and sinew, which are also used as levers, one running lengthwise from the heel to the ball of the toes, and the other crosswise at the instep. These arches are built largely of bones, but are given that springy, elastic curve on which their health and comfort depend, and are kept in proper shape and position, solely by the action of muscles - those of the lower part of the leg and calf.

The purpose of these arches is to "give," or spring, like carriage springs, and thus break the shock of each step and cause the body to "ride" easily and comfortably. In order that a spring may "give," it must expand, or spread. Far the commonest and most serious cause of a poor, easily tired gait and a bad carriage is tight shoes, which, by being too short, or too narrow, or both, prevent the arches of the foot from "giving" and expanding. Not only does this produce corns, bunions, and lame feet, but it makes both standing and walking painful and feeble, and destroys the balance of the entire body, causing the back to ache, the shoulders to droop forward, and the neck muscles to tire themselves out trying to pull the head back so as to keep the face and eyes erect. Thus one soon tires, and never really enjoys walking. If this disturbance of balance is increased by high heels, thrust forward under the middle of the foot, the result is very bad.

Our Shoes, an Important Factor in Health. Few more ingenious instruments of crippling and torture have ever been invented than fashionable tight shoes with high heels.

Kipling never said a shrewder or truer thing than when he made Mulvaney, the old Irish drill-sergeant, tell the new recruit, "Remimber, me son, a soljer on the marrch is no betther than his feet!" and this applies largely to the march of life as well.

Every shoe should be at least three-quarters of an inch longer, and from half to three-quarters of an inch wider, than the foot at rest, to allow proper expansion of these great "carriage-spring" arches. If children run free in the open air, either barefoot, or with light, loose, well-ventilated shoes, or sandals, they will have little trouble, not only with bunions, corns, "flat-foot," or lameness, but also with their backs, their gait, and their carriage. Easily half of our backaches, and inability to walk far or run fast in later life, to say nothing of over-fatness and dyspepsia, are caused by tight shoes.

Houghton Mifflin Company
Copyright, 1911, By Woods Hutchinson
All Rights Reserved
Tenth Impression

About the Author

Woods Hutchinson (1862-1930) was an American physician, born at Selby, Yorkshire, England. He graduated from Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1880 and received his medical degree from the University of Michigan four years later. He worked as a professor of anatomy at the State University of Iowa and then became a professor of comparative pathology at the University of Buffalo.