Prolonged squatting bad? (#2): Were they all really squatting?

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Todd Gastaldo - 04 Aug 2005 01:05 GMT

PREGNANT WOMEN: OBSTETRICIANS ARE DOING TERRIBLE (EASILY AVOIDED) THINGS TO
BABIES.

See my note to Surgeon Commodore McMillan at the very end of this post.

PROLONGED SQUATTING BAD? (#2): WERE THEY ALL REALLY SQUATTING?

Surgeon Commodore Grant H McMillan, QHP MD MSc FRCP FRCP Glasg, FFOM FIOSH
Royal Navy (and Nichols^^^) studied the medical literature and found
evidence that:

"[F]requent or prolonged...squatting doubles the general risk of
osteoarthritis of the knees found in the general population...[L]ifting, in
combination with...squatting...is associated with an excess risk of
osteoarthritis above that attributed to...squatting alone."

^^^McMillan G, Nichols L. Occup Environ Med. 2005 Aug;62(8):567-75. PubMed
abstract
http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/62/8/567

OPEN LETTER (archived for global access at http://groups.google.com)

Grant H McMillan, QHP MD MSc FRCP FRCP Glasg, FFOM FIOSH
Surgeon Commodore
Royal Navy
Consultant in Occupational Medicine
GHGM@doctors.org.uk

Grant,

Assuming your "general population" was chair-dwellers...

It is bad (perhaps actionable?) to rob children of opportunities to squat
and then later in life subject them to work where frequent or prolonged
squatting is required. (I wonder if it is actionable because you mentioned
your "squatting" findings being "of particular importance in welfare and
medico-legal situations.")

I suspect that many "squatting" workers in chairdwelling cultures aren't
actually squatting (because they can't). Rather, they are crouching on
their toes.

Did you classify crouching on the toes as "squatting"? Was the distinction
made in the papers you studied?

Kevin Shelburne, PhD and Marcus Pandy, PhD wrote in 2002:

"[S]quatting is a relatively safe exercise for [anterior cruciate ligament]
rehabilitation..."
--Kevin Shelburne, PhD and Marcus Pandy, PhD [Comput Methods Biomech Biomed
Engin 2002 Apr;5(2):149-59, PubMed abstract]

In October 2002, I telephoned Kevin asked if by "squatting" he meant
flat-footed squatting.

He said yes.

I expressed puzzlement.

Because of The Great Squat Robbery, I said, most Westerners CAN'T
flat-footed squat - at
least not comfortably.

Kevin indicated he hadn't given The Great Squat Robbery much thought.

He wasn't aware that Westerners lose bony "squatting" facets. (See the
1995 edition of the British Gray's Anatomy.)

Ultimately he clarified regarding his usage of the word "squatting"...

He said flat-footed squatting in the medical
literature might be better characterized as squatting "exercise," which (he
said) is not (generally) the same flat-footed squatting performed by most
humans on the planet - or words to that effect.

Anyway, Grant...

I am concerned that Western culture is spreading prolonged use of the chair
and whole populations of chair-dwelling children are losing their easy
prolonged squatting ability by adulthood.

I hope you will write and let me know whether you distinguished between
crouching on the toes and true squatting in arriving at your conclusions.

Whether or not it is actionable, we do rob children of opportunities to
squat and then later in life subject them to work where frequent or
prolonged squatting is required.

Since "welfare and medico-legal situations" are being discussed, we should
always mention The Great Squat Robbery.

We should also mention The (related) Great Birth Robbery - the bizarre
spectacle of obstetricians closing birth canals up to 30% and keeping birth
canals closed the "extra" up to 30% when babies get stuck.

More on The Great Birth Robbery in the postscript.

Sincerely,

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo
Hillsboro, Oregon
USA
todd@chiromotion.com

PS > GRANDMA'S HIP OSTEOARTHRITS

> COULD IT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?
>
> "Acetabular Rim Syndrome in Young Adults: A Major Cause of Osteoarthritis of
> the Hip..."
> --Warren Hammer, MS, DC, DABCO
> http://www.chiroweb.com/columnist/hammer/index.html
>
> OPEN LETTER (archived for global access at http://groups.google.com)
>
> Warren Hammer, MS, DC, DABCO
> Norwalk, Connecticut
> softissu@optonline.net
>
> Warren,
>
> In 1953, Harrison et al. called hip osteoarthritis "the
> commonest clinical site of severe osteoarthritis." [Harrison et al. J Bone
> Joint Surg 1953;35B(4):598-626]...
>
> You say of hip osteoarthritis that it "may be crucial" to recognize
> "acetabular rim syndrome" before development of hip osteoarthritis.
>
> You write:
>
> "Acetabular dysplasia causes secondary osteoarthritis in 25 percent to 50
> percent of patients by the age of 50 years...recognizing what is sometimes
> called 'acetabular rim syndrome' before the development of this disease may be
> crucial..."
> http://www.chiroweb.com/columnist/hammer/index.html
>
> You indicate that the hip motions of "flexion, adduction and internal
> rotation" will cause early acetabular rim symptoms "due to overload of the
> acetabular rim."
>
> Aren't flexion, adduction and internal rotation the hip motions of the
> fundamental human rest posture called squatting? See the photos of two
> different flat-footed squats in Fahrni WH. Orth Clin N Am 1975;6(1):93-103.
> In one photo (p. 94), the feet and knees are adjacent. In another (p. 95),
> the feet are shoulder-width apart and the knees are spread wide.
>
> Can it be that people in squatting cultures are somehow paradoxically AVOIDING
> "overload of the acetabular rim" by squatting daily - i.e. - by daily
> PERFORMING hip "flexion, adduction and internal rotation"?
>
> I ask because in 1974, orthopedic surgeon DR Gunn exclaimed "Don't sit:
> Squat!" in an article in which he noted "the virtually complete absence of
> primary degenerative arthritis of the hip" in Southeast Asians...
> [Gunn DR Don't sit: Squat! Clin Orth Rel Res 1974(103):104-5. Taken
> from a larger article by Gunn in the Indian Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery]
>
> In 2002, Nevitt et al. studied Chinese elderly in Beijing, China and wrote:
>
> "[H]ip OA was 80-90% less frequent than in white persons in the US."
>
> See Nevitt MC, Xu L, Zhang Y, Lui LY, Yu W, Lane NE, Qin M, Hochberg MC,
> Cummings SR, Felson DT. Very low prevalence of hip osteoarthritis among
> Chinese elderly in Beijing, China, compared with whites in the United
> States: the Beijing osteoarthritis study. Arthritis Rheum. 2002
> Jul;46(7):1773-9. PubMed abstract]
>
> Nevitt et al. concluded:
>
> "Identification of the genetic and environmental factors that underlie these
> differences may help elucidate the etiology and prevention of hip OA."
>
> What if (as suggested by Gunn and others) the etiology of much hip
> osteoarthritis is the fact that we chair-dwellers - as a consequence of our
> chair-dwelling - fail to take our hips through the full range of motion - as
> we lose a fundamental human rest posture?
>
> See Biomechanics experts to help babies?
> http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/1693
>
> Canadian orthopedic surgeon W. Harry Fahrni (citied above) recommended
> allowing and encouraging children to maintain their innate flat-footed
> squatting ability into adulthood.
>
> Fahrni's recommendation accords with your "conservative treatment" for
> acetabular rim syndrome. ("Conservative treatment, consisting of flexibility
> stretching and strengthening of the pelvic and lower extremity muscles, should
> be attempted.")
>
> Warren, thank you for your article, "Acetabular Rim Syndrome in Young Adults:
> A Major Cause of Osteoarthritis of the Hip..."
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Todd
>
> Dr. Gastaldo
> Hillsboro, Oregon
> todd@chiromotion.com
>
> PS As an aside, Grandma's stroke risk is the same as baby granddaughter's
> stroke risk...
>
> See Baby stroke risk = elderly stroke risk (Lee et al. UCSF)
> http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/3728
>
> I believe obstetricians are causing strokes in babies via gruesome spinal
> manipulation - closing birth canals up to 30% (semisitting and dorsal
> delivery) and KEEPING birth canals closed the "extra" up to 30% (keeping women
> semisitting or dorsal) when babies get stuck - as they pull with hands,
> forceps and vacuums - sometimes pulling so hard they rip spinal nerves out of
> tiny spinal cords.
>
> It's a chiropractic emergency, Warren.
>
> I mention the chiropractic emergency for obvious reasons - but also because
> it's relevant to this post: Obstetricians have blamed their bizarre practice
> of closing birth canals up to 30% on our culture-wide loss of the easy
> squatting ability.
>
> See British obstetrician Jason Gardosi et al.'s 1989 Lancet "randomised
> controlled trial of squatting" where nobody squatted because - ostensibly -
> sedentary Western women cannot squat well enough to deliver squatting.
>
> NOTE #1: It took some time, but Gardosi now RECOMMENDS squatting at delivery -
> this after assuring me in a personal letter in 1990 that two British trials
> had demonstrated that squatting delivery is "definitely NOT an option."
> (Emphasis Gardosi's - LOL!)
>
> NOTE #2: Women do NOT have to squat to allow their birth canals to open the
> "extra" up to 30%.
>
> See ACOG's 2005 edition: How NOT to birth
> http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/3606
>
> I may as well mention UNNECESSARY C-SECTIONS and UNNECESSARY EPISIOTOMIES...
>
> As noted at the just cited URL, obstetricians are slicing vaginas and abdomens
> en masse (episiotomy/c-section) - surgically/fraudulently inferring they are
> doing/have done everything to open birth canals - even as they close birth
> canals up to 30%.
>
> Of course, compelling obstetricians to allow birth canals to open maximally
> will not prevent all c-sections or episiotomies or forceps use - but
> obstetricians have no business keeping birth canals closed the "extra" up to
> 30% when babies get stuck.
>
> Similarly, Western culture has no business robbing children of their innate,
> comfortable prolonged flat-footed squatting ability - regardless whether
> squatting prevents hip osteoarthritis.
>
> Warren, feel free to reproduce this email, in its entirety, anywhere you like.
>
> This Open Letter to Warren Hammer, MS, DC, DABCO will be archived for global
> access in the Google usenet archive.
>
> Search http://groups.google.com for "Grandma's hip osteoarthritis"

One last matter, Grant...

Your phrase, "of particular importance in welfare and medico-legal
situations" reminds me of another aspect of The Great Birth Robbery:

Obstetricians are strangling babies and robbing them of up to 50% of their
blood volume.

This is happening to EVERY CESAREAN BABY, according to retired obstetrician
George Malcolm Morley, MB ChB FACOG...

Regarding routine baby strangling...here is something I emailed recently to
Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers...

> ....AMERICAN MEDICINE¹S **MOST** FREQUENT SURGICAL BEHAVIOR IS OBVIOUS
> CHILD ABUSE THE WAY OBSTETRICIANS PRACTICE IT...
>
> Retired obstetrician George Malcolm Morley, MB ChB FACOG is recommending
> that his fellow obstetricians temporarily strangle babies - to help
> obstetricians learn why they should not immediately clamp/cut umbilical
> cords thereby PERMANENTLY strangling babies/robbing them of up to 50% of
> their blood volume.
>
> Dr. Morley indicates that EVERY CESAREAN BABY is being robbed of up to 50%
> of his/her blood volume.
>
> HERE IS DR. MORLEY RECOMMENDING THE **TEMPORARY** BABY STRANGLING ON THE
> WEB...
>
> "[T]he umbilical cord [is] immediately closed between finger and thumb...The
> [fetal heart rate/FHR] will decelerate quickly to about 60 bpm...the color
> will change from purple-pink (normal at birth) to pallid blue
> (vaso-constriction and asphyxia.)...Few midwives or obstetricians will be
> able to observe, without interference, a deep, prolonged FHR deceleration on
> a non-breathing newborn for a period of 60 seconds. Common sense will soon
> release the finger and thumb."
> http://www.cordclamping.com/acog-cp.htm
>
> Hardy [Oregon Atty Genl Hardy Myers], some OREGON obstetricians may be going

to Dr. Morley's website and

> experimenting with his temporary baby strangling - as they engage in
> PERMANENT baby strangling - robbing babies of up to 50% of their blood
> volume.
>
> Dr. Morley MEANS well but it is simply (obviously) illegal for him to
> encourage obstetricians to commit ³lesser² child abuse in order to encourage
> them to stop committing greater child abuse - robbing babies of up to 50% of
> babies¹ blood volume.
>
> See Michigan Baby Strangler George Malcolm Morley, MB ChB FACOG
> http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/3739
>
> Again Hardy, I know that you may be unable to investigate MDs because you
> part of the medico-"legal" "just us" system...
>
> But at least offer assistance to pregnant women in your circle of family and
> friends, OK?

Grant, if British babies are being strangled and robbed of massive amounts
of blood - not to mention being robbed of up to 30% of pelvic outlet area (I
suspect both robberies are occurring in Britain), I encourage you to get on
your horse and do something about it immediately.

These are EASILY avoided robberies. See above.

Of course, I am also interested in whether you distinguished between
crouching on the toes and "squatting" - but that is not nearly so urgent.

Sincerely,

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo
Hillsboro, Oregon
USA
todd@chiromotion.com

This Open Letter to Surgeon Commodore Grant H McMillan, QHP MD MSc FRCP FRCP
Glasgow will be archived for global access in the Google usenet archive.

Search http://groups.google.com for "Prolonged squatting bad? (#2): Were
they all really squatting?"

Reply to this Message

Todd Gastaldo - 10 Aug 2005 16:04 GMT

FALLING OVER BACKWARDS IN CHILDBIRTH CLASS - THE GREAT SQUAT ROBBERY

PREGNANT WOMEN: Obstetricians are routinely closing birth canals up to 30%.
You do NOT have to squat to allow your birth canal to open the "extra" up to
30%. See below.

(Archived for global access in the Google usenet archive,
http://groups.google.com)

I wrote to Surgeon Commodore Grant McMillan, MD (UK):

> I suspect that many "squatting" workers in chairdwelling cultures aren't
> actually squatting (because they can't). Rather, they are crouching on
> their toes.
>
> Did you classify crouching on the toes as "squatting"? Was the distinction
> made in the papers you studied?

Surgeon Commodore McMillan just responded:

"I believe from miners' demonstrating the squatting position and other
sources that, for miners, this was flat foot squatting."

Grant,

Many chairdwellers have lost the ability to squat flat-footed COMFORTABLY
for prolonged periods quite early in life. (The British obstetrician Jason
Gardosi, MD designed a special "squatting" birth cushion where the woman is
not squatting! See the postscript.)

Doctors I have interested in looking into this loss of squatting ability
have found children as young as 12 who CAN'T squat flat-footed - they fall
over backwards.

They don't fall over backwards though if they have heels on their shoes - or
if they are squatting on an incline - or if they are holding onto something.

But even under these circumstances - they still can't squat flat-footed
COMFORTABLY for prolonged periods.

I personally did not notice that I had lost the ability to flat-footed squat
until age 26 while taking childbirth classes with the mother of my eldest.

Even with heels on my shoes, I fell over backwards.

If I remember correctly, in general, the men at the childbirth class had a
more difficult time than the women.

I worked gradually to regain my COMFORTABLE prolonged flat-footed squatting
ability - but never did - though I did build up the time I was able to
TOLERATE the position - say on an incline with shoes on.

I think I was robbed by my culture. I think a LOT of children are robbed by
their culture. I call it The Great Squat Robbery.

Canadian orthopedic surgeon W. Harry Fahrni, MD wrote about it Orth Clin N
Am 1975 and hypothesized that the robbery is causing low back pain.

Regardless whether The Great Squat Robbery is causing low back pain, it
seems to me very wrong for a culture to rob its young of an innate rest and
labor posture - esp. given The (related) Great Birth Robbery - upon which
you did not comment.

If I am right about many chairdwellers being robbed, a significant number of
the subjects studied ("miners and other sources") may have started work
TOLERATING squatting - perhaps with heels on their shoes - and they likely
got better at it.

But people who have been robbed of their innate squatting ability are not
engaging in COMFORTABLE flat-footed squatting - and engaging in work that
requires squatting may cause musculoskeletal problems over and above the
loss of a fundamental human rest posture.

I am, of course, interested in any verbiage from the studies you reviewed
which demonstrates that all the chairdwellers studied had not first lost
their COMFORTABLE prolonged squatting ability before starting work which
required squatting.

I am also interested in why you were silent about the squatting-related
massive obstetric crime I mentioned - not to mention the other massive
obstetric crimes I mentioned.

If you are simply embarrassed that your fellow MDs are committing mass
(sometimes fatal) child abuse, your silence about the obstetric crimes is
understandable - but unconscionable.

Thanks for responding though, to the extent that you did.

Sincerely,

Todd

Dr. Gastaldo
Hillsboro, Oregon
USA
todd@chiromotion.com

PS I say again...

>> See British obstetrician Jason Gardosi et al.'s 1989 Lancet "randomised
>> controlled trial of squatting" where nobody squatted because - ostensibly -
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>> See ACOG's 2005 edition: How NOT to birth
>> http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/chiro-list/message/3606

I forgot to mention that for use in circumstances when babies' shoulders get
stuck - Gardosi (just mentioned) created a novel version of McRoberts
maneuver - pulling the woman's buttocks over the edge of the delivery table
so her sacrum can move back...

But women shouldn't be ON their buttocks in the first place as they push
their babies out.

Women shouldn't have to ASK for the "extra" up to 30% - indeed - most women
don't KNOW to ask.

So Grant, I urge you to at least speak out about the obstetric crime of your
fellow medical doctors KEEPING birth canals closed the "extra" up to 30%
when babies get stuck. (Imagine you are the baby in the birth canal again
and your birth canal is being senselessly closed up to 30% - and the
obstetrician is pulling on your head "wrenching"/stretching your neck -
ripping spinal nerves out of your spinal cord - or perhaps "just" wrenching
your neck.)

You might also speak out in protest about the common obstetric practice of
immediately clamping umbilical cords - temporarily asphxiating babies -
forcing them to breathe through their lungs before they are ready - as they
are robbed of up to 50% of their blood volume.

BRAIN DAMAGE - minor damage may not be evident until later in life...

From an occupational medicine perspective, it is interesting to ponder how
many people have problems in their occupations because of what went on at
birth.

> PREGNANT WOMEN: OBSTETRICIANS ARE DOING TERRIBLE (EASILY AVOIDED) THINGS TO
> BABIES.
[quoted text clipped - 344 lines]
> Search http://groups.google.com for "Prolonged squatting bad? (#2): Were
> they all really squatting?"

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