The Worries of Bones

       We like to think bones as part of the body that just needs a lot of calcium, and when you get older, more care. If you are your everyday human, you go to school or work, come home, and have family time; your bones never cross your mind. But what about those whose bones are in danger every time they do their job? For example, those who participates in sports. I am sure their minds are on the game, and not on their bones; they must think that their outfits will protect them. But...what happens when it does not do the job? In the following blog I will address the most common sports breaks.
​       If you have taken a look at the section of this website titled “Labeled Human Skeleton (http://anthropologicalconcepts.weebly.com/labeled-human-skeleton.html),” you have seen how many bones look like they are prime to be broken if not protected. The most common bone that is broken will take you by surprise (it surprised me); it is the clavicle. But after researching how it can fracture it does not seem so surprising. It is settled between the manubrium and scapula, and in reality it is just floating there. If the actual clavicle is hit with enough force it will, of course, break, but there are other ways it can fracture. For example if someone is tackled or hits the ground with enough force on their side, that force could cause pressure on the clavicle and in turn cause it to break. And landing on the side with the arm close to the body or extended over the head, both can cause a clavicle to fracture. 

       Now we have broken arms, but an arm is made up of three bones, humerus, radius, and ulna. Just like the clavicle, and for other bones I will speak of, the major deciding factor for a bone to break is pressure. If the pressure is just too much, it will give in. In football, for example, they constantly use their arms to clear their path and to defend the ball (“Fall on an outstretched arm, often during sports or from a height” can cause both the ulna and radius to break; the area of the radius closest to the thumb is what usually breaks resulting in a broken wrist). When the arm is in a defense position, the ulna is the bone that gets the beating, and when they are pushing their way through, it is the humerus. Humeral fractures can be proximal (closer to the top), distal (closer to the bottom), or to the shaft. A proximal fracture has the highest percentage. Just like with the ulna, a fall or a direct hit can cause it to break. 

       Next we have the calcaneus. Seeing how much running is done in sports it is no surprise that this is a bone that is one of the commonly broken ones. Even if you do not participate in sports, just taking a wrong step or a bad fall from your bike can cause a broken calcaneus. “In some cases when you twist an ankle you might think you have something like a sprain, but broken ankles and sprains can seem similar.” The sports in which these are common are soccer, football, basketball, and rugby. Another bone, or bones that are also in your foot are at a high risk of fracture, these are the phalanges of the foot. Seeing how close to 25% of your bones are in your feet, it is not surprising to see the toes on this list. The bones of the feet are strong, strong enough to support us when running, walking, jumping, doing anything that requires locomotion. Of these bones, the phalanges and calcaneus are very exposed. In sports that require kicking, like football or soccer, this is common. But it is also common in basketball and ballet. In ballet it seems to be a normal occurrence due to stress these small bones undergo when they take certain poses. 

       The next bone is most commonly broken in contact sports, like boxing, football, and rugby, that is the nasal bone. With this one, just like the calcaneus, you do not have to participate in these sports to have a broken nose. Just being in a fight that someone takes a swipe to your face, or falling on your face can easily break this bone. Unlike the rest of the skull, which is make up of thicker bone, the nasal bone is thinner and unluckily, more prominent than the rest of your skull. “Fractures often cause the nose to become misshapen as well as resulting in pain and swelling; a person may also have difficulties with breathing and a black eye.” With a broken nose, it is lucky that the orbit sustains no damage; although, again, depending on the force of the hit, it just may. 

       You may have noticed that neither the tibia, fibula, or femur were amoung the ones I have spoken of, with good reason. The femur is the strongest bone in the body that can withstand 160 PSI (pound-force per square inch), and is stronger than steel (not to mention much more malleable). So when you put pressure on the femur, it takes most of it to keep the tibia and fibula with less pressure. When playing sports, or just going about your everyday life, I think it is important to take your bones into account. Because, as you have just read, they can fracture, some with intent some by just taking the wrong step. This goes out to all my readers; I hope you never have to go through the pain of a broken bone, mostly because the time can vary with what kind of fracture is sustained. Below are examples of different fractures and their names.

“Transverse fractures go more or less straight across the bone.
Oblique fractures are diagonal breaks across the bone.
Spiral fractures happen when one or both halves of the bone are twisted.
Comminuated fractures break the bone into more than two pieces.
Avulsion fractures mean pieces of the bone have been pulled apart.
Impacted fractures are the opposite of avulsion fractures. These happen when a piece of bone is pushed down into another piece of bone.
Fissure fractures are cracks in the bone.
Greenstick fractures happen when the bone bends and breaks partially, but not completely."

       Please feel free to comment on what you thought of the blog, or other physical anthropological subjects you would like me to cover.