Keeping Momma upright

While Esther hasn’t really started showing yet, she’s getting ready to and finally science has provided an answer to why pregnant mothers don’t topple over due to all of that front leaning weight

CNN has a story about it.

Evolution provided slight differences from men in women’s lower backs and hip joints, allowing them to adjust their center of gravity   

…

Harvard anthropology researcher Katherine Whitcomb found two physical differences in male and female backs that until now had gone unnoticed: One lower lumbar vertebra is wedged-shaped in women and more square in men; and a key hip joint is 14 percent larger in women than men when body size is taken into account.

Now I’m not a “big” guy… but sometimes Esther and I compare our baby bumps (I hate that term) and right now I’m winning, I am ashamed to say. Why don’t I fall over? Not cool hip and back bones… nope.

But what about men with stomachs the size of babies or bigger? What keeps them from toppling over?Their back muscles are used to compensate, but that probably means more back pain, theorized Shapiro, who added: “It would be a fun study to do to look at men with beer bellies to see if they shift their loads.”  

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