Back in 1991, I was rear-ended; herniating one disk and rupturing another, L-3 – L-5. The pain didn’t set in for three days, but when it did, it was so agonizing I could barely do anything except moan and grunt. So I did what anyone else in their right mind would have done; I went to a doctor. I visited a chiropractor who gave me an "elastic girdle" back belt that did absolutely nothing to relieve my back pain. I even tried an Osteopath and Orthopod but to no avail.

Remembering the soothing effect my spine received as I pressed it against the wall, I had an idea. I cut some plywood to fit my lumbar spine and wrapped a belt tightly around my waist. As much as I had expected from this idea of mine, it didn’t help at all. But I did realize that when I pressed my back against a wall, I didn’t really care that I had to flatten my back to get full contact. But it did matter.

The "firm" part of my idea was still valid except for one missing ingredient – a big one! What I realized was that my back was curved, just like everyone else’s, but the wall was flat and I found it very awkward to walk around with my spine mis-aligned by being in ...