Nearly everyday I nearly always see elderly Japanese people walking hunched over… I’m just wondering why it’s so common to see this here compared to back home in the UK. I know they’re old and it’s a factor but surely there must be a reason!
I am more surprised by the insane quantity of people with leg/hips issues, even people in their 30/40’s.
Rice Fields. No joke.
Geriatric hyperkyphosis. i.e. a lot of very old people and their bodies breaking down.
I have been told that it is related to wartime diet and lack of calcium/protein/vitamins for many years, but I have never looked up an actual study supporting this.
The thing is in Western countries, people as old as the ones you mentioned are not out and about. They mostly stay home where they continue to grow fatter and more debilitated. It’s actually amazing that in Japan, lots of 80+ people are independent and can not only go out, but even walk up and down the stairs at the train station. As I’m sure you’ve experienced by living here, the lifestyle is quite active in that people are constantly moving around, walking to and from the station, shopping at multiple different stores when they go out, standing on the train for long distances, etc. I think that even more so than the relatively healthy cuisine is what keeps people mobile well into old age.
Long time smoking is one common cause.
Even people in their late 20s have bad posture here.
Bad posture is one thing, but man I feel terrible for the old people who seem to be permanently bent in a 90 degree angle. THAT must suck
I always assumed it was caused by spending so much time either sitting on the floor at the kotatsu, or kneeling. So many household activities, not to mention all the traditional crafts (tea, ikebana, carving, caligraphy, painting, etc) are done sitting or kneeling on the floor at low tables.
Ergonomics or care for workers’ environment isn’t a thing in Japan. They’ll sit on stools hunched over high school sized desks for 10 hours at a time. Then at home, sitting on the floor bending over a kotatsu doesn’t improve matters.
Maybe used to sit on cushion/ on the floor rather than using a proper chair at home?
It’s actually greatly improved – when I got here in the 90s, you used to see bent over old ladies quite often, they were so common that they had a nickname, “kurumaebi baba” (tiger prawn grannies) – so called because their backs were rounded like a cooked prawn.
Haven’t actually seen anyone like that for quite some time, not since our neighbourhood tofu maker passed away.
The main cause was osteoprosis. The pre-war Japanese diet was very low in calcium and dairy – it was quite common to feed babies watered down rice gruel instead of the more common dairy based formulas used now.
1. Not enough ラジオ体操 2. Too much ラジオ体操
I feel like its from spending all their time sitting on a cushion on the floor with nothing to rest their back against
Pretty sure it’s something to do with a lifetime of gardening / farming / working the land that people on the UK just don’t do anymore. Also people of a similar age in the UK probably can’t or don’t walk around independently like that
Japanese diet in decades past was low in some vitamins and calcium. I’ve always assumed that was part of it.
I have also wondered this because I never see this back at home. My gran is in her 90s and has a cane but still stands tall. It’s mostly women too. My guess was always that it’s a consequence of malnourishment due to extreme diets to stay thin (someone told me that this is the cause of osteoporosis in many elderly women here but I don’t know if it’s true).
I always assumed they were farmers who bent over and planted rice every day for 50 years lol
I certainly wish they would create a website where you could search for this kind of information.
One reason is diet. Most old people never ate a calcium rich diet growing up. My past older students told me they never had , butter , ice cream , cheese or milk Second. Spend most of your life hunched over working a field , this is what you get.
For my grandmother, it’s a lasting after effect of a polio infection
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Osteoporosis probably
I am more surprised by the insane quantity of people with leg/hips issues, even people in their 30/40’s.
Rice Fields. No joke.
Geriatric hyperkyphosis. i.e. a lot of very old people and their bodies breaking down.
I have been told that it is related to wartime diet and lack of calcium/protein/vitamins for many years, but I have never looked up an actual study supporting this.
The thing is in Western countries, people as old as the ones you mentioned are not out and about. They mostly stay home where they continue to grow fatter and more debilitated. It’s actually amazing that in Japan, lots of 80+ people are independent and can not only go out, but even walk up and down the stairs at the train station. As I’m sure you’ve experienced by living here, the lifestyle is quite active in that people are constantly moving around, walking to and from the station, shopping at multiple different stores when they go out, standing on the train for long distances, etc. I think that even more so than the relatively healthy cuisine is what keeps people mobile well into old age.
Long time smoking is one common cause.
Even people in their late 20s have bad posture here.
Bad posture is one thing, but man I feel terrible for the old people who seem to be permanently bent in a 90 degree angle. THAT must suck
I always assumed it was caused by spending so much time either sitting on the floor at the kotatsu, or kneeling. So many household activities, not to mention all the traditional crafts (tea, ikebana, carving, caligraphy, painting, etc) are done sitting or kneeling on the floor at low tables.
Ergonomics or care for workers’ environment isn’t a thing in Japan. They’ll sit on stools hunched over high school sized desks for 10 hours at a time. Then at home, sitting on the floor bending over a kotatsu doesn’t improve matters.
Maybe used to sit on cushion/ on the floor rather than using a proper chair at home?
It’s actually greatly improved – when I got here in the 90s, you used to see bent over old ladies quite often, they were so common that they had a nickname, “kurumaebi baba” (tiger prawn grannies) – so called because their backs were rounded like a cooked prawn.
Haven’t actually seen anyone like that for quite some time, not since our neighbourhood tofu maker passed away.
The main cause was osteoprosis. The pre-war Japanese diet was very low in calcium and dairy – it was quite common to feed babies watered down rice gruel instead of the more common dairy based formulas used now.
1. Not enough ラジオ体操
2. Too much ラジオ体操
I feel like its from spending all their time sitting on a cushion on the floor with nothing to rest their back against
Pretty sure it’s something to do with a lifetime of gardening / farming / working the land that people on the UK just don’t do anymore. Also people of a similar age in the UK probably can’t or don’t walk around independently like that
Japanese diet in decades past was low in some vitamins and calcium. I’ve always assumed that was part of it.
I have also wondered this because I never see this back at home. My gran is in her 90s and has a cane but still stands tall. It’s mostly women too. My guess was always that it’s a consequence of malnourishment due to extreme diets to stay thin (someone told me that this is the cause of osteoporosis in many elderly women here but I don’t know if it’s true).
I always assumed they were farmers who bent over and planted rice every day for 50 years lol
I certainly wish they would create a website where you could search for this kind of information.
https://preview.redd.it/33v1t6j5yabb1.jpeg?width=554&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=8b5d7a22401a5b177cd6b04fce463cad986108e2
A lifetime of running like this.
One reason is diet. Most old people never ate a calcium rich diet growing up. My past older students told me they never had , butter , ice cream , cheese or milk
Second. Spend most of your life hunched over working a field , this is what you get.
For my grandmother, it’s a lasting after effect of a polio infection