--- title: Back Pain's Cause: Some People Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines description: Research shows that people with spines similar to chimpanzees' have more trouble walking upright canonical: https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T15:42:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:44:42.057Z article:section: Health og:title: People With Back Pain May Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines og:description: Some human spines are less well-adapted to walking upright og:url: https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People With Back Pain May Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines twitter:description: Some human spines are less well-adapted to walking upright twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # People With Back Pain May Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Apr 28, 2015 3:42 PM UTC by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Apr 28, 2015 3:42 PM UTC People who suffer from lower back pain may have spines that are similar to chimpanzees, new research shows. In a [study](http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/15/68) published in _BMC Evolutionary Biology_, researchers analyzed the spine shapes of modern humans, ancient humans, chimpanzees and orangutans. They found that modern humans who had spine shapes most similar to chimps were more likely to have a small lesion that forms in the disc between vertebrae in the lower back, causing pain. These people’s spines are less well-adapted for walking upright, making them more susceptible to back pain. The research could help doctors to analyze spine shapes to evaluate which people are most likely to suffer from back pain. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/"},"headline":"People With Back Pain May Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines","datePublished":"2015-04-28T15:42:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:44:42.057Z","description":"Research shows that people with spines similar to chimpanzees' have more trouble walking upright","url":"https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/","keywords":["Research","Evolution","Back Pain"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3838248/back-pain-chimpanzee-spine-shape/","name":"People With Back Pain May Have Chimpanzee-Shaped Spines"}}]}] ```