Well, this is useful....

Uh-oh. I've been crapping without a foot rest my entire life.
Will I get some kind of RSI? Orac, aren't you an expert?

where's eneman when you need him?

A couple of years ago a female presenter of a radio health program in Melbourne Australia had a guest doctor who was explaining the same facts of life. He said that one should put one's feet on a small stool which broke up the presenter. The doctor feigned ignorance as he gently questioned her and drew her into deeper waters as she tried to explain her mirth.

She soon realised that he was setting her up and she wisely reverted to a professional attitude and moved the conversation back on-topic.

Looks like they forgot the step that involves dropping your trousers. Rather an important step to miss, I'd have thought.

As a very short person, I sometimes encounter toilets that are high enough that my feet don't reach the ground. A bm is still, of course, possible, but doesn't go quite as smoothly as when my feet are firmly planted. /graphic description

Could this be a guide intended for nudists, then?

The traditional Asian toilet -- still found in many older buildings -- is not a "seat" at all, but a porcelain slit trench over which one squats. It's really very effective, sanitary and, according to the above, much to be preferred. It gets awkward if you have any kind of leg or hip trouble, though.

Hey, where's the step about remembering to breath? I guess without instructions for that during bowel evacuation one would die of rectal asphyxia!

Since I am over 3'6" tall I have never even thought of the advantages of a footstool ... but now, since I am reminded, my mother had me use one when I was a wee tyke. Maybe I should use it again since I still can't hit anything but the floor and walls in the middle of the night.

I'm not sure I trust those instructions. That fourth panel has arrows pointing in every direction except the one that really matters.

Funny. But nothing compared to the brochure I saw about the benefits of "asian" toilets- the ones where you have to squat. Did you know the modern toilet seat will wreak havoc with your health, causing major misalignment of your chakras, energy blockages and whatnot?
Funnier still, it seems squatting toilets are also used in...maternity wards. Absolutely shocked me.

You've obviously never been a post-partum female...

Q, you definitely crack me up! Amazing I didn't notice until your quote. Good thing I didn;t try this at home first!

I love it!
A "Squeezing out your grumpies" footrest!

As an undergraduate, after having indulged in some rather too-good mexican food, I was obliged to use the campus public conveniences. Whilst voiding my bowels I perused the rather erudite graffiti, noticing on the door the silhouette of two feet and the legend "If in trouble, place feet here and push".
It amused me at the time.

It's not clear--does one place one's feet inside a box, or have them amputated first?

It's really very effective, sanitary and, according to the above, much to be preferred.

I encountered these in China. There would be one along the road. The trench led to an opening in the outside wall. That's where a guy with a hoe could pull the crap out into a wheelbarrow and then take it into a field where the "night soil" would be spread. This is one reason we were all advised to eat only things that were well cooked--no raw fruits or vegetables. Even the water had to be boiled first.

I haven't used a footstool to go to the toilet since I was old enough not to go in my pants...

I saw the trench loos in China. Fine, but what if you miss? Or worse, slip over? There was piss EVERYWHERE in the place you put your feet, and the place where your lower-half clothes would rest on the ground.

Wow. No wonder I hate having to do Number 2 in a public restroom intended for wheelchair folks! Actually, I seem to remember hearing about newly designed toilets that are much lower to the ground, to facilitate the exit of unwanted materials. I suppose this is all backed-up by some 3 year research project paid fro by the US Goverment.

Bah, what you really need is Paddy's toilet use instructions.

Boy, I've heard of instructions that tell you where to pee and when to write home to Mama (answers: only where it already smells and only when you get work) but a set of "how to s**t" instructions really takes the chromo.

I appreciate the humor of the directions, but as someone who has seen the darkside (as it were) of the digestive system, anything that can help the sufferers of hemmorrhoids, anal fissure, or chronic constipation is a good thing. A very good thing.

My understanding is that this is something that can help some people. And I'm surprised to see a couple of physicians making light of it.