GRUBSBURG, OH—Facing what officials described as "an unprecedented volume of questions from men about other people's backs," the Ohio Chiropractic Posture Line, a 24-hour telephone hotline staffed by licensed chiropractors, reported more than 41,000 calls last week, nearly all of them from men who said they could not tell whether what they were looking at was a curvy figure or lumbar hyperlordosis.
The line was launched in March by a regional chiropractic association to answer routine questions about posture, desk ergonomics and lower-back pain. According to the association's quarterly call log, routine questions now make up less than one percent of the volume.
"Lumbar hyperlordosis is real. It's common. Usually it's anterior pelvic tilt, where the pelvis tips forward and the lower back curves more than it should," said Dr. Dale Hupp, 61, a chiropractor of 34 years who has worked the overnight shift since the line opened. "About fourteen degrees, in a typical case. From behind, it can read as something else. We have explained this forty-one thousand times." Hupp paused before adding, "Not one man has asked about his own back."
Hold times on the line currently average four hours. The association has hired eleven additional operators, issued each of them a plastic lumbar spine model, and begun a callback system that it says "has not helped."
Callers waiting outside the association's Grubsburg office on Monday night, many of whom had driven in from neighboring counties to ask in person, described the hotline as overdue.
"I've commented 'that's anterior pelvic tilt' under every video since 2019," said Tyler Roarke, 34, who had been on hold for three hours. "I just want to know if I was right." Roarke said he had never seen a chiropractor himself and did not plan to, adding that he "doesn't really have a back thing."
"Finally," said Gary Wendt, 56, leaning on his pickup truck. "Some of us have been doing this alone for years."
Others had more practical complaints. "Four-hour hold. I've called eleven times," said Ray Ochoa, 44, a regional sales manager, who added that the hold music "is just a man explaining the pelvis."
Not everyone at the scene was there to call. "My husband calls them every night," said Denise Pruitt, 47, holding her car keys. "He says it's research." Pruitt said her husband keeps a spiral notebook of his findings, which he has titled "Cases."
Experts say the surge was predictable. A 2024 survey of online comment sections conducted by an independent posture-advocacy group found that the phrase "that's just anterior pelvic tilt" appeared more often under fitness videos than any phrase related to fitness. The group also found that the men posting it were, on average, slouching while doing so.
Asked whether the line would consider adding a menu option for men with questions about their own posture, Dr. Hupp said the option had existed since launch. "It's option one," he said. "It has never been pressed."
At press time, a caller near the front of the Grubsburg line had lowered his phone, stared at the asphalt for several seconds, and asked a reporter quietly, "So it's just a back?"
X-ray in the video: Jmarchn, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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