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Glossary

Australopithecus

Defined in topic 2

A genus of early hominins, including Lucy at 3.2 million years old, that walked upright while still climbing regularly.

Published Updated

Where this comes from

In the reference topic that owns this term

Reference topic 2, Standing Up, states the mismatch as a card: what the system evolved to expect, what it gets instead, and what happens in the gap.

Mismatch card

What it expects

Kilometers of walking most days, some running, carrying and throwing, and warm air that sweat can cool.

What it gets

Chairs, cars and desks; nearly a third of adults worldwide below minimum activity.

What happens in the gap

Built-in weak points meet modern ways of loading, moving and weighing: low back pain is the world's leading cause of years lived with disability, and knee osteoarthritis in the United States has doubled beyond what age and weight explain.

The full card, and the topic behind it

What that chapter recommends

3 of the 4 graded recommendations in Reference topic 2, strongest evidence first. How the grades work.

  1. Walk most days, especially after back pain

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    In the WalkBack trial, 701 adults recently recovered from non-specific low back pain had six sessions with a physical therapist spread over 6 months.

    Read it in full

  2. Run a little, if you can

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Any running was associated with a 27% lower risk of death from any cause, with no clear extra benefit from more.

    Read it in full

  3. Respect the heat

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Your body adapts to heat with repeated exposures. But in a laboratory study, 24 young, healthy adults doing light activity in humid heat could no longer shed heat fast enough above a wet-bulb temperature of about 30.5°C...

    Read it in full

Related terms

The argument behind this term, its studies and its notes are in Reference topic 2 of the reference library. The book gives the practical version. Get the book.