Why Don’t Pregnant Women Tip Over?
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Before I was married, I took some art classes. One of my projects was a group of figures including a pregnant woman. All my other figures stood up fine but my pregnant lady kept falling over and I ended up having to glue her feet down. And I remember thinking, why don’t real pregnant women fall over?
We know they don’t (except for me in my 9th month trying to put my shoes on), but it turns out some scientists have been wondering the same thing.
Katherine Whitcome, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University, studied the spines of several pregnant women and discovered a previously-unknown-to-medicine anatomical feature that allows a woman’s spine to cleverly adjust to support the weight of the baby
The lower part of a pregnant woman’s spine has adapted to be able to bend backwards and counterbalance the weight of the baby, and women’s vertebra are a different shape to men’s, which allows it to happen relatively comfortably.
I can hear all you pregnant ladies now. My back is killing me! We aren’t perfect, but those neat little design tricks nature has done makes it a whole lot easier than carrying 30-plus pounds around with no adjustments. We do it much better than men with beer bellies!
Products like body pillows and maternity belts can be a great help for relieving backache.
And, tell your husband or boyfriend about this article and get him to give your back a massage tonight. Or run you a lovely warm, bubbly bath. Or both. Pregnant ladies, you are a miracle of evolution. You deserve it!
Source - New Scientist Magazine
