Last week, I spent a lot of time expressing why I believe that as a discipline, a value system and a form of fitness training, the martial arts have much to offer. Among those benefits are improved balance and improved posture.

One of the things we quickly learn when we first start learning forms and shapes in martial arts, yoga and similar disciplines is how imbalanced we are. We learn that just the act of truly standing up straight can improve focus. That good posture leads to more natural body movement, less stress and fewer injuries. We also learn that finding your natural posture is not just a means of standing or moving but also a way of conveying a sense of power and presence. It's a reflection of your spirit. We call it "body language."

According to a study published in the January 2011 issue of Psychological Science, using one's posture to open up the body and occupy space (what is called "posture expansiveness") can activate a sense power in the mind wherein people begin to feel and behave as if they are more in charge. The more conscious one becomes of his posture the more in touch he becomes with the subtleties of the shifting of weight and the adjustments he makes to re-center himself. This can facilitate finding and maintaining proper back posture, and proper back posture keeps your muscles, bones and internal organs in their natural position.

A recent post on BodyHealth.com says the principles are no different from those applied by architects in designing a building. They must take the laws of gravity and weight distribution into account. Like a building with a poor foundation, a body with poor posture alignment is less resistant to the strains and stresses experienced throughout life. If we do not properly adjust to them, they will increasingly lead to weakness, stiffness and pain in our muscles and joints and ultimately could lead to a situation in which surgery is the only recommended corrective option.

As revealed in the 2011 findings of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, more than one-third of Americans in their mid-50s or older have chronic pain in their neck or back, and a similar percentage report chronic knee or leg pain. The tracking data from more than 353,000 American adults showed that chronic pain conditions increased most sharply among the sample group of those between their mid-20s and late 50s. This is attributed to the repeated use of muscles, joints and ligaments over time, as well as this age group's increased likelihood of being overweight.

A 2013 report in Physician's Weekly estimates that $90 billion is spent in the U.S. each year on the diagnosis and management of lower back and neck pain. An additional $10 billion to $20 billion is lost annually because of the resulting decreased productivity. Given how pervasive this problem has become, it may be surprising to learn that there are some cultures in the world in which back pain hardly exists. Though villagers perform what we'd call backbreaking labor daily, one indigenous tribe in central India reported essentially no back issues to author and acupuncturist Esther Gokhale. And the disks in their backs showed little signs of degeneration as the people aged.

Nearly 20 years ago, Gokhale found herself not just treating patients with chronic back problems but also with back problems of her own. It was eventually discovered that she had a herniated disk, which led to surgery. A year later, it recurred. Gokhale was determined to find a permanent fix for her back, and she wasn't convinced Western medicine or more surgery could help her achieve it. She began a 10-year quest, visiting cultures around the world that are far removed from modern life and have low rates of back pain. She studied how they stand, sit and walk.

"I have a picture in my book of these two women who spend seven to nine hours every day bent over, gathering water chestnuts," Gokhale recently recalled to NPR. "They're quite old. But the truth is that they don't have back problems."

In determining what all these people have in common, the thing that stood out was the shape of their spines. It is quite different from the typical spine seen in America. Gokhale noted that when you look at a spine in this country in profile, it's shaped like the letter S. She observed a more regal posture in the places she visited. In profile, the spine in those places is much flatter all the way down the back, curving out at the buttocks. These spines look more like the letter J.

"The J-shaped spine is what you see in Greek statues. It's what you see in young children. It's good design," Gokhale concluded.

When she worked on getting her spine into the J shape, her back pain went away. She started teaching what she'd learned, and today she's known in Silicon Valley as the "posture guru." Each year, doctors in the Bay Area refer hundreds of patients to her.

The scientific world has yet to figure out why Western spines have the shape they do. No formal study has documented the shapes of spines or looked at traditional cultures to determine why some have lower rates of back pain, according to Praveen Mummaneni, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco Spine Center.

Meanwhile, Esther Gokhale's practice is thriving, and her influence is growing. People seem to be getting positive results. One thing is certain. Moms in this country have it right when they badger their children to "put those shoulders back!" The trick is to gently pull, or roll, your shoulders up, Gokhale says, and then push them back and let them drop. Now your arms should dangle by your side, with your thumbs pointing out the way your ancestors' did. Don't try to sit up straight; that's just arching your back. Instead, roll your shoulders to open up the chest, and then take a deep breath. It will stretch and lengthen the spine, she says.

Write to Chuck Norris ([email protected]) with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.