Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Creation Moment 9/11/2019 - Back Pain vs. Evolution

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise;
1 Corinthians 1:25

"Darwinists have taught for decades that the reason for the back pain problem was because bipedalism was superimposed by evolution on a skeleton previously well-adapted for quadrupedal motion.
In the words of Krogman: “Although man stands on two legs, his skeleton was originally designed for four. The result is some ingenious adaptations, not all of them successful.”

Harvard evolutionist Ernst Mayr concluded that evolution will eventually solve the back problem when evolution completes “the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal life in all its [human] structures.”
What changes he expects to occur when the evolutionary transition is completed, he does not say.
Professor Krogman speculates that when humans started walking upright “a terrific mechanical imbalance” resulted, and backaches became common.
Plomp explains “We started to walk on two feet relatively quickly in evolutionary terms.” Consequently, she hypothesized that  “individuals with vertebrae that are more on the ancestral end of normal human variation are less well adapted to withstanding the pressures placed on the bipedal spine. .. This ancestral vertebral shape then plagued us throughout our history.”
Is the Problem Physical as Professor Plomp Implies?
Evidence against Plomp’s theory includes a well-known study by
Jeffrey Jarvik at the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues [who] randomly assigned 380 people with lower back pain to have an X-ray, which can identify things like fractures, or an MRI scan, which is used to look at soft tissues. A year later, there was no difference in their health outcomes [between the two groups], but those who had an MRI were more likely to have had surgery, exposing them to the risk of infection and other complications. “The potential for harm has been shown in many studies,” says Buchbinder.
The fact is,
by the time we’re 50, many of us will have abnormalities in our spine: degeneration of the discs, bulging, a little arthritis in the joints” Some of these may cause pain in some people but not others. … Getting a scan may not only be a waste of time and money…  but it can actually worsen your back pain. Once you start to look for abnormalities, you will find them. Once that happens, doctors are more likely to prescribe painkillers, steroid injections or surgery, which may be unnecessary, ineffective and sometimes harmful.
Furthermore, there is little evidence that back belts, shoe insoles and other ergonomic products are effective. What, then, is effective?

If, indeed, the back problem is due to some problem in the design of our back inherited from our quadrupedal primate ancestors, we may just have to live with it, or imbibe pain pills, such as aspirin or oxycodone, to deal with it. Or undergo surgery. We cannot alter the anatomy of the back we inherited from our ape ancestors unless we attempt the eugenic solution: Encourage families with few or no back problems to have large families and sterilize those with common back problems or in other ways discourage them from having families.
If, however, the problem is not due to the inheritance from ape ancestors, as evolutionists claim, this approach will be counterproductive.  Furthermore, the evolutionary explanation impeded progress toward finding the real reason for back problems. Among those looking for the real reason several decades ago were creationists.
Consider that despite our long history on the Earth, it is only in the past few decades that we have begun to experience the epidemic of chronic back pain. Consequently, evolution theory cannot explain the cause of the modern epidemic. The data reveal that, among people who seek help with back problems, fewer than one percent are caused by a fracture, an infection, inflammatory arthritis, accidents, sports injuries, congenital disorders, cancer or other disease.

The Real Cause of the Back Problem Epidemic
The article in New Scientist shows that the real cause was not evolution.
The research clearly shows that spending more time sitting on the job and slumping in front of computer screens puts pressure on the muscles, ligaments and discs that support the spine and can deactivate muscles that promote good back health and good posture.
Other lifestyle factors, such as the epidemic of obesity, which in the United State now tops 70 percent, amplifies the mechanical strain on the back and decreases mobility, predisposing disc deterioration in the spine. Obesity also increases the production of inflammatory chemicals associated with pain.

As the New Scientist article documents, back pain is due to other problems, including lack of exercise, too much sitting, obesity and other reasons not due to evolution."
CEH