One Ape Down - A Cautionary Tale

One Ape Down - a cautionary tale

Guest Post by Randall Kenneth Jones

When I first came to Dr. Cade Copeland, he naturally asked me to describe, in detail, what was bothering me. Without hesitation, I responded, “I’m one ape down.” I would like to tell you he responded with all the bravado of a scientific mastermind on the verge of a major breakthrough, but he tilted his head to the side, sorta like a confused puppy, and said, “huh?”

“You know that famous illustration of evolution? Well, I didn’t make it all the way to ‘man.’ From a posture standpoint, I’m just to the left of ‘man.’ I’m one ape down.” And though I desperately wanted to go all Pinocchio on him and exclaim, “Doctor! I just want to be a REAL boy,” I chose to let the monkey analogy percolate first. After all, we’d just met; I didn’t want to scare him off. I needed help. BAD!

Thus began my 10-year relationship with my friend, my protector, my guide and my advocate, Dr. Cade Copeland. Yes, he quickly discovered that I was going to be an occasionally stubborn, often non-compliant patient; however, he never gave up on me. More than that, he never allowed ME to give up on myself. In fact, his “tough love” led to me successfully quitting smoking after—get this—40 years!

 Though we laugh when we say it now, those three words, “one ape down,” have come to represent my struggles as well as my successes. I have always maintained that my bad posture started early because, as a too-tall, insecure preteen, slouching somehow made me believe I was blending in. (Silly, Randy).

Until I met Dr. Cade, I never really thought much about posture. Despite being something that my grandmother reminded me of so many years ago (“don’t sit ugly”), posture is important to overall health.  Posture affects not just how we look and feel, but how our bodies function.  That deep breath isn't so deep with poor posture, meaning the oxygen that enters the body and gives life and energy to all tissues of the body isn't coming in as much as it should. (Gasp!)

Also, the weight on the upper back between the shoulder blades is recruited by the neck to help hold the head up. With normal posture and center of gravity, the muscles of the neck are easily able to support the weight of the head.  However, when our head falls forward after a long computer session or a "quick" scroll through Facebook on your iPhone, the neck struggles to hold the head up and asks for help from the upper back. Research shows that every inch of "forward head posture" increases the weight of the head by an additional 10 pounds. We One Ape Downers are probably supporting an extra 30 pounds!

So, if you look more like your baboon ancestors than you wish, please follow my lead and get help. Charles Darwin created the Theory of Evolution in 1859, but Dr. Copeland Copeland does him one better. He helps real people like me EVOLVE—one step at a time.

*** This article was written by Randall Kenneth Jones, a man that has given our family SO much laughter and insight over the years, he has become an adopted member. He is a talented author, speaker, podcaster and creative, more of his work can be found on his website - RandallKennethJones.com

Randy and I had a conversation last year about CBD, take a listen here.