Category: Skeleton

Introduction

Comment by David FRITH: You are employed by a large sports and fitness company as a trainee Health Care Assistant within their Occupational Health Department (OHD). Your employers are concerned that a significant number of working days are lost due to employee absence through musculoskeletal disorders. They hope that by liaising with other Health Care professionals, the OHD will be able to create support programmes that offer employees education and guidance regarding the structure and function of the musculoskeletal system

Introduce your report, outlining what an employee in the company may find in it and use it for. Link this to the idea that to prevent injuries you need to understand the different parts of the musculoskeletal system and be able to identify where stuff is.

In this booklet I will be talking about the skeleton and what its structure and function is. joints and muscles. This booklet can help people who are training to work in the Health and care system. This will help the individual to understand how the skeleton, joints and muscles work throughout the body.

Section 1 – Diagrams of the skeletal system

Labelled diagram of the axial skeleton Comment by David FRITH: A labelled diagram with the following parts of the skeleton identified with clear explanation of function (example given below) and the type of bone

A diagram of the Axial skeleton, to include:

• cranium, mandible and maxilla, vertebral column (cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, sacrum and coccyx, intervertebral discs), ribs and sternum.

**it is best to do this on paint, or PowerPoint and then copy and paste as an image into this word document

Cranium – Provides a protective structure for the brain. It is made up of a number of flat bones that are joined together by immovable suture joints. In children these bones are not fused together to allow some movement for the brain and skull to grow as the child develops.

Labelled diagram of the appendicular skeleton Comment by David FRITH: A labelled diagram of the appendicular skeleton, to include:

• limb bones (humerus, radius, ulna; femur, patella, tibia, fibula)
• wrist, hand and digit bones (carpals, metacarpals, phalanges)
• ankle, foot and digit bones (tarsals, metatarsals, phalanges, calcaneus)
• shoulder girdle (scapula, clavicle)
• pelvic girdle (ilium, pubis, ischium).

Section 2 – Bones

Bone types there are different kinds of bones in your body some of them are called long, short, flat, irregular and sesamoid bones. These are what makes up the human skeleton. Comment by David FRITH: A detailed description of the different bones types and the general composition of bones. To include

• Long bones
• short bones
• flat bones
• irregular bones
• sesamoid bones.

Long bones are the largest bones in the body they are there to help provide strength, structure and mobility to the skeleton. The femur which is also known as the thigh bone is the biggest bone in the body.

Short bones are the bones that are located in your wrist and ankle joints they allow and provide stability and also a little bit of movement.

Flat bones are the bones that are there to help protect the internal organs such as the lungs, brain and heart.

Irregular bones are the bones that don’t fit into any other category as they all change in their size and structure; they normally are the ones that help to protect the organs. An example of an irregular bone is the vertebra is the irregular bone of the vertebral column it’s there to protect the spine.

Sesamoid bones are bones the small round like bones that are found at the knee, hands and ankles. They provide you to be able to move the joint all the way around.

Bone composition Compact bone is a bone that is a dense bone which is filled with substances such as inorganic salts.[19]Bone marrow is the sponge that is inside the bones which have red blood cells in them that help to carry oxygen throughout the body and the white blood cells are the ones that help fight infection. Bone marrow contains platelets which help to prevent blood clots in the body.[20] Comment by David FRITH: Bone composition: periosteum, spongy/compact bone, bone marrow, mineral use.

Section 3 – Joints

Classification of joints Joints can be classified based on their structure and function. There are three main groups of joints which are fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial. All three of these joints have different structures and functions. Fibrous joints are the joints that do not move. The characteristics of fibrous joints are the joints are connected by a connective tissue; this is so the joint can not move out of its structure.[14] Cartilaginous joints are joints that are connected together with cartilage. By the joints being connected by cartilage it allows more movement of the joint. This joint allows the growth between the long bones and the intervertebral discs in the spinal column. Synovial joints are the joints that are found between the bones that move together the synovial joints are found in places such as shoulder, hip, elbow and the knees. They allow all movements such as abduction, adduction, flexion and rotation. Comment by David FRITH: You need to explain how joints can be classified based on their structure into three main groups, fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial. You will need to describe the key characteristics of each type of joint, commenting on their general structure, movement each one allows and examples of each one

Major synovial joint types and location Comment by David FRITH: You need to identify the following major joint types on a labelled diagram – gliding, condyloid, saddle, socket, ball and socket, pivot and hinge.

Finally, you need to describe the movement each of these major joints allowed (e.g flexion, extension, rotation etc..)

There are a few types of movements. FLexion is the type of movement where the joint decreases such as when throwing a ball the arm is bending. Extension is where you straighten the joint. Abduction is where the joints move away from the body such as doing a star jump the arms and legs are both moving away from the midpoint of the body. Adduction where the joints move back into the body. Circumduction is when the joints are able to go round in a circular motion for example when taking a serve in tennis. And finally rotation is when the joint is able to turn for example when hit a golf ball in golf.[15]

Section 4 – Muscles

Labelled diagram of major muscle groups Comment by David FRITH: The major skeletal muscle groups forming the upper body are the abdominal, pectoral, deltoid, trapezius, latissimus dorsi, erector spinae, biceps, and triceps. The major skeletal muscle groups of the lower body are the quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocnemius, soleus, and gluteus

Structure of muscle fibres [16][image: ] Comment by David FRITH: A labelled diagram may help you do this.

Section 5 – The role of the skeletal system Comment by David FRITH:

Skeletal The skeleton plays a big role in our body; it provides the body to stay in its structure. The bones are there to also help protect and support the organs. The skeleton also allows movement as the bones are there to support and carry the body’s weight. The bones store minerals such as calcium and vitamin D.[17] The skeleton can also be there to help give structure to the muscles helping them to stay in place. Comment by David FRITH: 1. Skeletal functions: support, protection, attachment for skeletal muscle, storing minerals, producing blood cells, maintaining mineral homeostasis.

Muscles The muscular system is a big part of the human body as it allows the body to be able to move around. The muscles attach the bones to the body. The heart is one of the most important muscles in the body as it pumps blood around the body and makes sure it’s flowing enough.[18] Comment by David FRITH: 2. Muscle: the role of ligaments, tendons, skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, process of muscle contraction, fast- and slow-twitch fibres.

Movement The skeleton and muscles are a big part of movement. The body can do many movements such as being able to circle arms back and forth. Movement is important to the body as they wouldn’t be able to do everyday tasks such as walking, running and being able to sit down. If the body had no movement the individual would be very likely to be in a wheelchair. Comment by David FRITH: 3. Movement due to interaction of muscles, bones, joints and attachment apparatus: flexion/extension, adduction/abduction, internal/external, rotation, circumduction.

Bibliography

1. https://www.healthline.com/health/cranial-bones Last accessed 18th September 2020
2. https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/mandible#1 Last accessed 18th September 2020
3. https://www.verywellhealth.com/sternum-anatomy-4691725 last accessed 18th September 2020
4. https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/intervertebral-disk#1 Last accessed 24th September 2020
5. https://www.britannica.com/science/vertebral-column Last accessed 24th September 2020
6. https://www.innerbody.com/image_skel05/skel14_spine.html Last accessed 25th September 2020
7. https://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/anatomy-coccyx-tailbone Last accessed 25th September 2020
8. https://www.innerbody.com/image_skel05/skel14_spine.html Last accsessed 1st October 2020.
9. https://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/anatomy-coccyx-tailbone Last accessed 1st October 2020
10. https://www.physio-pedia.com/Ribs Last accessed 1st October 2020
11. https://www.physio-pedia.com/Structure_and_Function_of_the_Cervical_Spine Last accessed 2nd October 2020
12. https://www.healthline.com/health/maxilla Last accessed 2nd October 2020
13. https://www.visiblebody.com/learn/skeleton/types-of-bones Last accessed 9th October 2020
14. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ap/chapter/fibrous-joints/ Last accessed 15th October 2020
15. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxc34j6/revision/5 Last accessed 16th October 2020
16. https://opentextbc.ca/anatomyandphysiology/chapter/10-2-skeletal-muscle/ Last accessed 23rd October 2020
17. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/21048-skeletal-system Last accessed 23rd October 2020
18. https://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html#:~:text=The%20muscular%20system%20is%20responsible,vessels%2C%20tendons%2C%20and%20nerves. Last accessed 23rd October 2020
19. https://www.britannica.com/science/compact-bone Last accessed 23rd October 2020
20. https://medlineplus.gov/bonemarrowdiseases.html#:~:text=Bone%20marrow%20is%20the%20spongy,that%20help%20with%20blood%20clotting. Last accessed 23rd October 2020

Depth Frames of PrimeSense Camera

The PrimeSense PS1080 camera connects to several computers via an USB 2.0. The IR light projects a patttern of IR dots from the sensor and detects them by a CMOS image sensor with an IR filter. The camera can provide up to 640⨯480 resolutions at a rate 30 frames per second(fps). The OpenNI (natural interaction) provides audio and visual peripherals for PrimeSense PS1080. The camera can give coordinates to the depth of the object. In this system, the position of each point is given by 3 coordinates — x, y and z [7].

Body height

Humans know how to measure height objects by measuring the angle of sunlight or by using a ruler for a long time.

Recently there have been many projects of height determination using cameras, which is the project of Sotirios Ch. Diamantas and prithviraj Dasgupta, C-MANTIC Lab, University of Nebraska, Omaha, they estimated the height according to the formula:

H_c/h_cp =H_o/h_op

in the formula Hc is the body height of the camera from the ground in cm, h_cp is the body height of the camera in pixels, h_op is the body height of the object -we wish to find its real in pixels, and Ho is the unknown variable, that is the body height of the object in cm, specifically presented in [4].

Since Microsoft released Kinect cmaera in 2012, especially after the release of Microsoft SDKs (Software Devel-opment Kits), it has provided a set of functions such as a skeleton tracker, then many algorithms have developed with applying skeleton points.

N. S. Suriani and colleagues gave a method to identify human actions based on skeleton points [5], projects of this type often serve to develop action game genres.

F. Gossen and T. Margaria offers a method of facial recognition by identifying characteristics between distances of the Kinect’s skeleton model, presented in ‘Comprehensible people recognition using the Kinect’s face and skeleton model,’ 2016 IEEE International Conference on Automation, Quality and Testing, Robotics (AQTR), Cluj-Napoca, 2016, pp. 1-6. That helps us come up with the idea of calculating the distance between skeleton points to output human height.

Body Weight

There are two basic ways to measure human weight: balance and spring balance. The first way is used to compare mass between objects and the second way to calculate human mass in gravitational environment. So how to calculate human mass in microgravity environment?

K. Shimada and Y. Fujii introduced the tool spring-mas device to do this presented in Key Engineering Materials Vols. 381-382 (2008) pp 461-464.

Carmelo Velardo estimated height by relying on features quan trọng với các phần khác của của của của trường của bạn và đọc được đầy đủ body (height), the torso (waist), and the limbs (arms and legs measures Then use statistical analysis method with a big data of NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) to deduce human mass, presented in [3].

Based on the method of Carmelo Velardo, we provide a method of estimating human mass based on the correlation between height and weight of human through BSA index, the body surface area (BSA), is the measured or calculated surface area of a human body.

Method

Method of determining the height

We choose the tracking body method to estimate the human height. We exploit the skeleton tracker embedded in the OpenNI framework and NITE 2 that provides us with the location of skeleton points, is presented in [1], [2]. It allowed us to follow the human skeleton that was characterized by the skeleton points. Each matching point is represented by its 3D coordinates. There are 15 skeleton points shown in Fig. 1 for our program, with higher versions can give more points.

Fig. 1. The image the skeleton points provided by PrimeSense OpenNI framework [3]

After we have the 3D coordinates of the skeleton points, our next task is to select the appropriate points from head to toe and calculate the total distance between them. Here we select the top down points in the following order: HEAD, NECK, TORSO, LEFT_HIP, LEFT_KNEE, LEFT_FOOT. We can choose the right leg instead of the left leg. The result remains unchanged in the condition that the user stands balanced at the position. The following is the formula used to calculate the total distance between the selected points:

i=26(ψ_(i|x)-ψ_(i-1|x) )^2+ψi|y-ψi-1|y2+ψi|z-ψi-1|z2

in the formula i corresponds to the sequence number of points; x, y, z is the coordinates of each point respectively. The above formula is also equal to the human height.

Method of determining the weight

Through many studies worldwide, scientists have confirmed that there is a correlation between height, weight and body surface area (BSA). Scientists have come up with many formulas that show that correlation.

The most common use is Du Bois formula, 1916:

BSA=0.007184⨯W^0.425⨯H^0.725 (1)

A simpler, easier to use formula is Mosteller, 1987:

BSA=√((W⨯H)/3600)

There are also a number of other recipes including:

Haycock formula, 1978:

BSA=0.024265⨯W^0.5378⨯H^0.3964

Gehan and Gearge formula, 1970:

BSA=0.0235⨯W^0.51456⨯H^0.42246

Fujimoto formula, 1968:

BSA=0.008883⨯W^0.444⨯H^0.663

Takahira formula, 1968:

BSA=0.007241⨯W^0.425⨯H^0.725

Shuter and Aslani, 2000:

BSA=0.00949⨯W^0.441⨯H^0.655

Schlich, 2010:

BSA=0.000975482⨯W^0.46⨯H^1.08 (women)

BSA=0.000579479⨯W^0.38⨯H^1.24 (men).

In the above formulas BSA is in m2, W is weight in kg, and H is height in cm.

Thus, we can see from formula (1) if the value of body surface area (BSA) is determined, then the height measurement above can be calculated from the value of body weight because BSA value fluctuate very small, from 1 to 1.9. We chose the formula because this is the most widely used formula in the world. The formulas is:

W=〖BSA〗^(1/0.425)⨯(H⨯100)^(-0.725/0.425)⨯〖0.007184〗^(-1/0.425) (2).

In this formula BSA is in m2, W is weight in kg, and H is height in cm.

The important thing is how to determine body surface area (BSA) the most appropriate for all subjects. According to research results of a group of Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy students, Vietnam, 2013-2014. Accordingly, the body surface area (BSA) average for men is 1.67 m2 and for women is 1.45 m2. In order to verify these values, we performed a body height and body weight test with 60 people including 30 men and 30 women, the results were close to the above values, specifically the body surface area (BSA) average for men is 1.7 m2 and for women is 1.43 m2. Apply statistical method according to normal distribution with variance σ = 0.069, reliability 1- α = 0.95 or α = 0.05, 〖 Z〗_(α/2)= 1.96 and standard deviation ε = 0.017, then the sample size is:

n=(〖〖 Z〗_(α/2)〗^2⨯σ^2)/〖ε 〗^2 ≈60

thus, the application of statistical probability for such sample size is reliable.

In summary i used the formula (2) with two option the body surface area (BSA) average for men is 1.7 m2 and for women is 1.43 m2 to estimate weight.

Our work

This section will provide an overview of the steps in the calculation method as well as the system that we have implemented. Detail of the sections are presented as shown in Fig. 2. My method is carried out mainly through three steps.

The first is through the process of determining the body height. We use OpenNI framework and NITE 2 [6] to extract skeleton points, then program give us the depth coordinates of the skeleton points in millimeters.

The second, we use my algorithm to calculate the total distance between the selected points as in part II.A to calculate the body height.

The final step is to apply statistical methods to estimate the weight of the object. For this last step, all the estimated estimation tools have been tested.

Fig. 2. Overview of methods of measuring height and weight

Result

The result determines the height

Next, we will present the measured results from the experiment. The purpose of the project is to determine the most appropriate method so that it is possible to accurately estimate the human height and reduce errors. To evaluate the effectiveness of my method use the cumulative square error distribution function:

ε=|λ_m-λ_r |/λ_r (2)

in that, ε is the measurement error, λ_m is the measured value and λ_r is the real value.

Conducting a survey of over 60 people, the average error of measuring is shown in TABLE I. We found that the error of height measurement is ±10% and the average error is 4.37% for men and 4.19% for women, an acceptable value in the medical community.

THE AVERAGE ERROR OF MEASURING

Height Weight

Men 4.37 11.35

Women 4.19 8.8

The result determines the weight

Also from the error estimation method like the formula (2) when measuring the data set above, we have determined the average error of weight for men is 11.35%, the average error of weight for women is 8.8%.

In an experiment conducted at Melbourne Hospital to collect images estimating the volume of 1137 patients and medical staff. The study propose the statistics of the estimate conducted by the patients and the medical personnel. The weight of each patient was firstly estimated by himself, secondly the nurses and the physicians were asked to estimate it. The precision of ±5% the weight of the patients is achieved by the patient and by most of the trained nurses. The physicians instead do not achieve the same results and their error is more spread (up to ±20% of the original weight) [3]. This analysis shows that our system is still effective compared to the estimated weight by visual of medical professionals.

We understand that this analysis is far from practical, not always high-precision compared to other good measuring tools like. Therefore, we studied to evaluate the loss of efficiency and conditions affecting the error of measurement results. We want to prove that regardless of the loss of accuracy in any condition, my measuring system is still considered good enough to use in conditions that do not give you accurate results.

First, we will talk about the condition of the camera device. My program is compatible with Depth Frames of PrimeSense Camera or Kinect v1 Camera. Feature characteristics of the two devices are basically the same. Next, need to set the device so that the camera can take the whole body. Appropriate distance for measurement from body to camera is from 1.2m to 4m, the most suitable distance is 2.5m and minimize obstructions around.

In addition, the brightness factor also affects the measurement, the device will not catch skeleton points in outdoor light conditions, so conducting measurements in the room is most appropriate. Clothing also affects the results of the measurement, loosening the shirt and pants or wearing too thick clothes increases the probability of the measurement error.

My measuring system is not limited to body height measurements. The most accurate measurement limit of real weight measurements is between 50 kg and 65 kg for men and 45 to 60 kg for women, which is common with the physical characteristics of Vietnamese people, outside this value the measurement has an increasing error.

Conclusion

Thus, we have presented a method to estimate the human body height and body weight based on a great skeleton tracking of Kinect feature and a statistical analysis to find the correlation between body height and body weight by Du Bois formula. Models are considered under different conditions by random noise and find conditions for the system to work best. We also demonstrated our system theory better than an estimated experiment based on the human eye. We believe this approach will serve future possible approaches to this topic.

Lady of Oplontis –

The Lady of Oplontis was the first hugh tech examination of a Pompeian. Directed and inspected by Estelle Lazer. This archeological discovery opened numerous entryways for the future or x-ray examinations for archeologists. The Lady of Oplontis was found gripping her tote, which was her last belonging as she fled in dread from Mt Vesuvius’ eruption in AD 79. Alongside her tote, she was wearing garments and a gold wrist trinket, which could mean she was quite wealthy or a merchant for adornments. The examination that Estelle led, reasoned that The Lady of Oplontis was between the ages of 30 and 40, was in superb wellbeing separated from dental work yet the greater part of the bodies that Estelle contemplated had significant teeth issues, from holes, develop of plaque, terrible breath and gum malady, be that as it may, there is no indication of dental mediation, for example, extractions, fillings, crowns, or dentures. The Lady of Oplontis’ body was 1.5 meters tall and the cast of her body shows the ‘pugilist pose’ normal for bodies presented to extraordinary temperature at the hour of death. The Lady of Oplontis’ reason for death was most likely:

• Asphyxiation – which was the main cause of death amongst the Pompeians
• thermal shock, which is evident in the pugilistic poses of the bodies, caused by sudden contraction of the muscles.
• Concussion, which was caused by falling debris and the destruction of local buildings and houses, which was caused by the previous tremors before the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

The location of her death was the suburb of Oplontis, which gives reasoning to what people call her.

The Decapitated Man –

While working at Pompeii, archaeologists made a gruesome discovery when they found a man who had apparently been decapitated by a rock that was thrown at him by the force of the volcanic flows from Mount Vesuvius. The gruesome discovery shocked the archaeologists who unearthed the remains and pictures of the decapitated man went viral. The unfortunate casualty seemed to have been slaughtered by a 300-kilo stone square, conceivably a door frame ‘fiercely tossed by the volcanic cloud’. It appeared to have hit his chest area and squashed his thorax and expelled his head totally from his body. The skeleton was discovered headless, and no skull was discovered close by. The remaining parts were jutting from the stone that seemed to have hit him and it was accepted that the missing skull was found, likely squashed, under the gigantic stone section. The further unearthing’s have demonstrated the alleged area of the skull to be right, anyway suspicions regarding its condition were misguided. The skull was found totally flawless, though with a couple of breaks. The man was found near the Alley of Balconies which was also discovered a few weeks before. A preliminary analysis of the decapitated victim shows that he was aged between 30 and 35 and in view of perceptions of the person’s skeleton, he had a disease in one of his tibia bones. This would have left him with restricted portability and when Mount Vesuvius erupted on that game changing day in 79 A.D, he couldn’t escape sufficiently quick and like such a significant number of others, perished.

2000-year-old horse –

Donkeys, pigs, and dogs have all been found among the vestiges of Pompeii, however the remaining parts of a carbonized pony are the main model archeologists have gone over of that creature. While the revelation is extraordinary, the way it was found is disrupting. The steed was found in a stable, total with a trough, adjacent to a huge Roman estate. Tragically, archeologists were not the first to make the disclosure – tomb looters are answerable for uncovering the steed. In any case, Massimo Osanna, the executive of the Pompeii site, considers the pony a ‘remarkable’ find. Specialists found the marauders had burrowed a 60 meter (196.85 ft.) long system of passages under the manor, to scan for frescoes and different valuable antiques. Laser scanners show the passages measure only 60 cm (23.62 inches) wide, as per Independent.ie. Steps have been taken to discover the bandits and archeologists have started exhuming the territory appropriately to attempt to maintain a strategic distance from further obliteration.

The horse measured 150 centimeters and was one of the largest they had found. Horses were used for many different things in Pompeii such as: Battle, Chariot Racing, Transport and Hunting. Due to Traces of an iron and bronze harness that were located beside the horse’s head, archaeologists believe the animal was probably a parade horse that was specially bred to fulfill that action and was very expensive. There is also the possibility that the animal was a prized racing horse. The horse was also found near The Alley of Balconies.

The skeleton of child –

On the 25th of April 2018, a child’s skeleton was discovered in a bath complex in the center of town by Pompeii’s director, Massimo Osanna. The child is assessed to have been seven or eight years of age and was found in a squatting position. The skeleton was found in the bath complex, which was one of the most significant open structures in Pompeii. It is theorized that the child unfortunately died while looking for cover from the volcanic debris, gas, and pumice. The skeleton is moderately flawless, and this would propose that the child was murdered by the progression of hot debris and gas that slipped upon Pompeii. The individuals who didn’t escape the volcanic debris cloud would have died. Apparently, the pyroclastic stream that cleared down from Vesuvius and plunged upon Pompeii after the ejection is the thing that has protected the remaining parts of the youngster. It is speculated that the progression of hot gas and debris overflowed through the windows and entryways into the shower complex. The debris and gas stream covered the child, and this set over the body when downpour fell, encasing the youthful injured individual. The skeleton had been fixed in the shower by the pyroclastic stream, as indicated by the American distribution Archeology. This enabled the skeleton to stay undisturbed for centuries. Life in Pompeii was seemingly peaceful, that is until the volcano erupted killing 10%of Pompeii’s population, men, women and children.

Herculaneum Remains

During excavations at Herculaneum in the 90’s, a group of refugees were found trapped inside a boat house, obviously hiding there for shelter from the volcanic tragedy. The reason the boat house was the first option of shelter, is because everybody was attempting to flee for the beach and while others were fleeing in boats, everybody that was left behind had no other option but to prepare for the worst and find shelter in the boat houses, or wherever they could go. A group of refugees were found in one of the many boathouses, it was predicted they were huddled together for over 12 years just hoping it would be over, but they unfortunately perished. The study of their remains shows that the column of gas and ash from the volcano collapsed, sending a 500C pyroclastic surge through the town and to the waterfront. The cloud dropped down the 60ft cliff and blasted the shelters. The relaxed postures of the skeletons suggest that they died instantly from heat shock and not suffocation. The hot cloud vaporized their flesh and then covered their remains with volcanic ash.

Most people believe that the population of Pompeii perished due to lava or falling rocks, but evidence shows that there were more gruesome fatalities such as: Asphyxiation which would burn the lungs and body alive, thermal shock which is evident in the pugilistic poses of the bodies, caused by sudden contraction of the muscles and concussion caused by falling debris. With newer technology, we can determine the specific time of death and even how they died. Luckily, the remains of the eruption have been preserved safely and are in great observational condition.

Guiseppe Fiorelli

Guiseppe Fiorelli was an Italian archaeologist, born June 8th, Guiseppe is the main reason that Pompeii was preserved so well, he also had a large contribution to modern archaeological methods.

Between the years of 1860 and 1875, Guiseppe directed the excavation of Pompeii which he also introduced an entirely new system for the project. Rather than revealing the boulevards first, to unearth the houses starting from the earliest stage up, he forced an arrangement of revealing the houses starting from the top — a superior method for protecting everything that was found. Along these lines the information gathered during the unearthings could be utilized to help with the rebuilding of the old structures and of their insides — although the most significant divider compositions mosaics kept on being stripped and shipped to Naples. Fiorelli additionally took the geology of the town and isolated it into an arrangement of ‘regiones’, ‘insulae’ and ‘domus,’ a type of reference still being used today.

There are many ways to identify human skeletal remains and create a biological profile. One of the ways of creating a biological profile is to determine the sex of the skeletal remains. To identify the sex of the skeletal remains can be done by using several different bones in the skeleton. The most common used bones are the pelvis and various parts of the skull. There are two types of methods used when using bones to identify remains these are

Morphological method and Metric methods.

The morphological methods use the descriptive traits of the bone and metric methods look at the quantitive elements o of the bone such as the measurements. (Lesciotto and Doershuk, 2018) Metric methods uses a wide variety of bones which can be used 34 bones located in the skull and 43 postcranial. Anthologists can use a computer programme known as FORDISC. Which is used to identify ancestry, sex and stature of skeletal remains. An advantage of this is that the programme can identify more than one more than one piece of biological profile. A disadvantage of this is that the accuracy of FORDISC ranges between 52.2% and 77.8%. (Guyomarc’h and Bruzek, 2011) The advantages of using metric methods is that The disadvantages of the metric method is that the method is dependent on size and shapes of the bones. The size and the shapes of the bones can be various between different populations. Siep and Henneberg (2015) believed that “the skeletal size differs considerably across populations and the use of inappropriate discriminate functions can result in misinterpretations of sex” Morphological methods are methods which use the look of the bones to identify the sex of skeletal remains. This is the most common way which anthropologists use to identify the sex of the remains.

The Advantages of using morphological methods is that methods such as Klales revised method on the Phlenice method can be modified and applied to juveniles to estimate the sex following the onset of puberty. (Klales and Burns, 2017) The disadvantages of using morphological methods on the pelvis to identify the sex of the skeletal remains is that Bruzek and Murail (2006) state that “ …the level of reliability needs to be higher in the legal context then those presented in current sexing methods (85%) A minimum threshold of 95% is required…morphological sexual differences on the skeleton is not enough to elaborate a method of sexing. No single trait of the human skeleton enables a reliable sex determination.” (pp 225).

The methods are only highly accurate after the onset of puberty. The skull can be used to determine the sex of the skeletal remains. It can be used as there is many differences features between a female and male skull. When the morphological methods are used on the skull it focus on the key differences between female and male skulls. These differences are known as sexual dimorphism. For a female the skull is small and is smooth and round. It has a small non projecting mastoid. A small brow ridge and high rounded frontal lobe. The Nuchal Area with a small with an uncommon hook. The Supraorbital margin is sharp, and the chin is also sharp. While the male skull is larger and rugged with a large projecting Mastoid and large brow ridges. The frontal lobe is slanted, and the Nuchal Area is rugged with a hook and the supraorbital Margin is rounded and the chin is broader. (White and Folkens, 2005)

There are many advantages to using the skull to determine the sex of the skeletal remains as the skull offers a high resistance to adverse environmental conditions over time, resulting in the greater stability of the dimorphic features as compared to other skeletal bone pieces (Gangrade, Yadav and Jain, 2013) There are also many disadvantages of using the skull to determine the sex of the skeletal remains Spradley and Jantz (2011) stated that “the results clearly indicate that the most postcranial elements outperform the skull estimating sex. It is possible to correctly sex 88-90% of individuals with joint size, up to 94% with multivariate models of postcranial bones. The best parts of the cranium do not exceed 90%”. Another disadvantage is that race can confuse the sex for example Saukko and Knight (2004) states that the size of the supraorbital ridges in a normal Negroid woman is the same as a Caucasian male. Another bone which can be used is the pelvis of the skeletal remains which can also be used to determine the sex.

There are many methods used to determine the sex of any skeletal remains. One of the methods used is known as the method of Phenice which was developed in 1969 by T. W Phenice. This method is a morphological method which uses three traits of the pelvis. These traits of the pelvis are the ventral arc, sub-pubic concavity, and the medial aspect of the ischiopubic ramus. (Phenice, 1969) An advantage of the method is that it has an accuracy range between 59% to 96%. (Bruzek, 2002) A disadvantage of this is that the ventral arc criterion does not include those who are aged thirty years plus. (Sutherland and Suchey, 1987) this is agreed by Lovell (1989) who states “the accuracy of the method appears to decrease when it is used on older individuals” The method of Iscan and Derrick (1984) which uses the posterior pelvis. The advantages of this method is that it has an accuracy level of 90% (Iscan and Derrick 1984) The method of Ferebach, Schwide and Stloukal (1980) which uses eleven traits of the pelvis. Duric, Rakocevi and Donic (2005) found that the Great Sciatic Notch was 79.15% accurate. The skull was 70.56%. The Mandible was 70.93% and the Supraorbital margins 28.75% all the results were less than the legal context separately, but they believed that experience is likely to contribute to the accuracy of sex determination.

The advantages of using the pelvis to identify the sex of the skeletal remains is that Debono and Mafart (2006) states “that the most reliable method of determining sex from the skeletal remains are based on examination of the hip bone.” (pp 167) The disadvantages of using the pelvis is that the pelvis may not be fully developed yet due to the remains age. Another disadvantage of using the pelvis bone is that it is important to use more then one aspect of the pelvis for an accurate reading as one aspect can contradict the other. (Saukko and Knight, 2004) Juvenile skeleton is the skeleton of a child aged from birth to eighteen years old during this age gap it is very hard to determine the sexual identification as the skeleton has not yet fully developed. Rissech and Malogsa (2004) state “the indemnification of sub adults (Juveniles) especially in the foetus and infant stage are not clear and further study is needed.” They do state further on in their paper that “The most useful varies for adults and subadults are the three variables of diameter of the ilium acetabular surface.” (pp 165)

The sexual identification of juvenile skeletal remains focuses on the morphological traits of the dentition, cranium, mandible and pelvis which receive an accuracy rating of 70% (Lewis and Rutty 2003) Molleson, Cruse and Mays (1998) “ scored discrete traits of the orbital and mandible in a sample of known sex adults and juvenile sex was accurate in 90% adults and 78% Juveniles. Many diseases can leave morphological overlapping on bones or effecting the metric method as the disease effects the length of the bones making sex determination harder some can even be mistaken for trauma to the bone which could be caused by some form of abuse. One of the diseases which effects the morphological identification of sex of the skeletal remains is scurvy. Scurvy is caused by the lack of vitamin C. the lack of vitamin C causes the bones to thin and causing pathological fractures in a child’s rapidly growing bones. These fractures can be misidentified as trauma from child abuse. (Maat 2004) Dwarfism or skeletal dysplasia is a disease which effects the bones growth as this disease stops or slows down the bone growth. (NHS, 2019)

This disease can affect the sexual identification of any skeletal remains which this condition as an anthropologist may not be aware of disease in the skeletal remains as the skeletal remains are unidentified there is no access to medical records. If the metric method was used the measurements gathered from the skeletal remains. The results would indicate that the skeletal remains were possibly that of a child and not of an adult. Rickets is another disease which affects the bones. Rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D. The lack of vitamin D in bones causes soft bones and effect the growth and structure of the skeleton as the bones become weak and bends easily this weakness can be seen in the femurs as they become bent into an arch shape. Trauma is the name of any physical injury to the bone.

There are many types of trauma which are considered in forensics but not all of them can be identified from skeletal remains. The timing of trauma is also important as if the trauma had happened ante- mortem there would be medical records of the trauma which could be used to identify the skeletal remains. When enough force is applied to the bone causing it to break. It is referred to as a fracture. There are two types of fractures. The first is called a fracture, this occurs when the break travels completely though the bone. The second is called an infraction this is when a break is not complete. (White and Falkens, 2005) The speed of the force is also considered when fractures and infractures occur. The most common speed is dynamic, this is a sudden stress which is caused at high speed and is powerful. This type of stress can accrue after a fall. The second type is static, this stress is applied slowly until the bone breaks. Another type of break is a communited fracture this fracture occurs when the bone has broken into more than two fragments. This type of fracture can occur due to vehicle accidents. The direction of the force is also considered when dealing with skeletal remains as it can be used to identify the type of fracture if any are present. There are five directions of force. The first is tension which have few fraction lines. Then there is compression which is found mainly on the skull. Torsion which is found in the long bones and can show signs of child abuse. Bending which is common in violent deaths. It can also cause parry fractures which can be found on someone who has defended themselves against an attack. The final direction is shearing, this can be found in people whom have been involved in accidents. Skull fractures are fractures which are found in the skull,. The fracture dispenses outwards from the central area of impact. All the above fractures can have an impact on the ability to identify the skeletal remains sex as the fracture could impact on the bone growth, which would give anthologists using metric methods the wrong lengths and those morphological the bones may have bits missing.

There are many methods used to identify the sex of the skeletal remains none of which are 100% accurate on their own and for the best results a mixture of two or more bones should be used. The methods of morphological and metric it is up to is up the anthropologist to decide which method they feel more comfortable using. There are advantages and disadvantages on both types of methods and many researchers believe experience using the methods is the key to identify the sex of both adult and juvenile skeletal remains. There are still a few issues regarding identifying the juvenile skeleton which, many problems due to the bones still growing and developing so the metric measurements may be inaccurate. The bones most effected by growth are located in the skull and pelvis which would also make using morphological methods inaccurate. There is need for more research on the juvenile skeletal remains on identifying a biological method.

Forensic Anthropology is the discovery and analysis of human remains for medicolegal (medical investigators e.g. the coroner) reasons resulting from unexplained deaths, this involves establishing identity from a range of cases including mass disasters within the role of the anthropologist’s investigation of the skeletal remains is to create a biological profile of the deceased which includes ancestry, sex, age at death and stature, (Royal Anthropological institute, 2019). This essay will concentrate on the aspect of sex.

(Lundy 1998) suggests that the most common situation of skeletal remains being found is the surface scatter this occurs when the body has been dumped on the ground and the remains has been scattered by animals over a large area.

Sex estimation is the process of assessing whether skeletal remains are biologically male or female, sex is pivotal in establishing an accurate biological profile as sex influences the analysis of other elements within the biological profile e.g. stature and age. Sex estimation is based on the idea that the female and male morphology is different in both size and shape, this is known as dimorphism, (Langley and Dudzik, 2016). Sexual dimorphism is highly dependable on the population this is due to humans being extremely varied in terms of size so therefore it is recommended that population specific methods are used when available to do so, (Kimmerie, Tise, and Humphries, 2012).

People are sexually dimorphic this provides us with the knowledge that male and females are both physically different in terms of both the size, shape and density of the bones, (White, 2016). White (2016) also suggests that due to men having the hormone testosterone during their growth and this tends to lead to males being more larger on average than females.

Morphoscopic (Non Metric) analysis is the visual qualitative assessment (of the innominate) that is used to estimate the features of unknown skeletal remains. This allows the anthropologist to determine by way of visual inspection if the remains are that of a male or female, using this information and based on the fact females have evolved for the adaptation with the unique function to cope with the stress and strains of childbirth owing to this information this make the pelvic region the most sexually dimorphic region of the human skeleton, (Christensen, A, M and Passalacqua, N, V, 2018).

Harrison and Simmons (2016) states that the pelvis consists of two Innominate one right and one left and the sacrum however, the innominate is made up of three separate bones the ilium, ischium and the pubis these fuse together during the onset of puberty (sometime after the twelfth year of life) and the female pelvis has many different features to that of the male.

Byers, (2017) points out the “classic traits of the male versus the female pelvis are the male is large and rugged in size than that of the female which is small and gracile, the Ilium is high and vertical in males and it is low and flat in females the pelvic inlet is heart shaped in males whereas it is circular or elliptical in females the pubic shape is narrow and rectangular in males and broad and square the subpubic angle is v shaped in males and u shaped in females (Harrison and Simmons, (2016) states that this has a 95 per cent success rate to estimate sex by itself) the greater sciatic notch is narrow in males and wide in females (Harrison however states that this has a 75 per cent success rate to estimate sex by itself) and finally the shape of the sacrum is long and narrow in males and short and broad in females”

For those unknown remains that have completed skeletal adulthood the estimation of sex is reliable this is reflected by reaching approximately 98 per cent accuracy if the remains are complete and in a good condition, Nevertheless, the skeletal features are not differentiated and cannot always be placed into two classifications as the traits exist from extremely feminine somewhere in the middle to extremely masculine, it is standard practice to measure the traits on an ordinal scale ranging from one to five so for the estimation of sex five groups will be used “Female, Probable Female Intermediate, Probable Male and finally Male”, (Future Learn,2019 and Kimmerie and Tise, 2012).

White and Folkens (2005) indicate that the most reliable method to be used when using the pelvis is the Phenice method, this uses just three components the ventral arc, subpubic concavity and the medial aspect of the ischiopubic ramus and this ranges from 96 to 100 per cent accurate conversely, this method should only be used for fully matured adults.

Austin and King, (2016) state that if the pelvis is unavailable as it was not recovered than the second best to used is the cranium and the mandible, white (2016) suggests that this method is 85-90 per cent accurate. However, these features that prove helpful in the estimation of sex do vary among ancestral groups. The characteristics of male and female skulls are “Size Large and rugged in males and small and smooth in females, Mastoid large, projecting in males and small, non-projecting in females Brow ridges large in males and small or none in females, frontal slanted in males and high and rounded in females, Nuchal area rugged with hook in males and smooth, hook uncommon in females, supraorbital margin rounded in males and sharp in females and finally the chin broad in males and pointed in females”. (Byers,2017 and Identification of skeletal remains 2010).

The bone pathology used by forensic anthropologists and its interpretations can aid in the identification of unknown skeletal remains by studying diseases that leave behind traces on bones after death, although this can also provide an understanding into the cause and manor of death, (Cunha, n.d). There are a number of disorders that can affect the skeleton and they are placed into general groupings, the groups are “infectious diseases, circulatory disturbances, hematopoietic disorders, metabolic disorders, endocrine disturbances, congenital abnormalities of the skeleton, skeletal dysplasias, degenerative diseases and trauma”, (Ortner, 2003). An example of a disease is Paget’s Disease this effects the bones by disrupting the normal cycle of bone renewal causing them to become enlarged and soft and occasionally causing them to break other affects are bowed legs, the spine to curve to the side (Scoliosis) and the upper back to become hunched (Kyphosis). This can affect most of the bones in the human body mainly affecting the femur, pelvis and the skull. Paget’s disease is extremely common in the United Kingdom however, this is found mainly in men above the age of 40 and it is believed to affect at least three per cent of men in that age group, (NHS, 2019).

Trauma can affect and pose new challenges in the creation of a biological profile of skeletal remains. Also the environment that the body is found can have an effect on the biological profile. Thermal Trauma and the Black Saturday in Australia in 2009 is an example of how this affects the profile, the fire created 145 scenes over 1500 square miles. This type of trauma removes water from the remains, colour change, splitting, shrinkage and warping. The warping removes the possibility of using metric methods however you may still be able to use morphoscopic methods, (Love and Wiersema, 2016). Skeletal remains act differently depending on the environment they are in for example the taphonomic modification in water may cause the skeleton to dissolve this is down to the chemical changes therefore leaving no remains to be estimated for sex, also the provides the organisms with the opportunity to feed from the body creating the possibility of spreading the remains over a large distance this also works on land, (Parsons and Brett, 1991).

The Juvenile skeleton provides one of the most widely debated topics on the estimation of sex with any amount of confidence in the reliability. Also the sexually dimorphic characteristics of the pelvis and skull will not be apparent in the juvenile skeleton until puberty, (Scheuer and Black, 2004). Beattie (1982) also suggest that the chemical differences that occur in juveniles between male and female are very different these include levels of calcium and phosphorus are an indicator of sex however the drawback is that these also do not occur at the age of reproduction, however, Scheuer and Black (2004) also point out that male and females both mature at different times and at different rates. Despite this both Scheuer and Black (2004) and Lewis (2007) have stated that the “Morphological characteristics of the pelvis including the greater sciatic notch and the subpubic angle that shows that sexual dimorphism does exist from a young age”. Byers (2017) suggests that even with the success rate of estimation of sex of juveniles is 70 per cent most anthropologists do not want to provide the profile as the percentage has a 20 per cent chance of an unsuccessful biological profile of sex and is likely not to be acted upon by law officials in a search for missing children.

Lewis (2007) does however, suggest that there is another method that can be used to determine the sex of a juvenile skeleton, this method is the use of measurements (metric analysis) of the deciduous dentition these measurements indicate the teeth of boys are generally larger than those of girls. By providing the widths and lengths of the teeth however, “this was only accurate 64 per cent to 68 per cent of the time, this was conducted by T, K, Black in 1978, but the study of Carol de vito and Shelley Saunders in 1990 they found this was accurate 76 per cent to 90 per cent of the time”. These cases show that most methods used to determine sex of juveniles are just not accurate enough to be used in forensic cases, (Byers, 2017).

Kimmerie, et al (2012) states that the use of metric analysis is pivotal to forensic anthropology. The use of metric data provides sex estimations with enough data which allows the “statistically quantified classification and error rates to be used in research and court room evidence”.

metric data is able to be used to estimate sex. The metric analysis for sex and ancestry typically has a lower error rate than the use of morphological methods alone.

There are many factors that can affect the determination of sex in juveniles just as in adults. There are many diseases that can affect the bones for example congenital Disorders that are present of birth. Aufderheide, and Rodriguez-Martin 1998 state “that many of these anomalies affect the skeleton. Cunha (n.d) provides a small sample of cranial or craniofacial leasions that can be detected and these are congenital defects on the skull and spine, hyperplasias of the members, and congenital dislocation of the hip.

As seen in adults Paget’s disease this can also be found the juvenile this is called “Juvenile Paget disease and affects the bone growth and appears in infancy or early childhood.as the child grows they become weaker and more misshapen. This bone disease affects all the bones of the skeleton and shows all the same features as seen in the adults however, the long bones are also highly affected causing them to bow and fracture easily this can have a long term effect on the ability to stand and walk, the misshapen features of the bones will make it difficult to determine sex using metric measurement thus solely relying on Morphoscopic features alone, (Genetics Home Reference 2019).

There are also other diseases that can be found in juveniles, of which can help determine that you are dealing with skeletal remains from a past population, two such of these are scurvy and rickets and are due to a serve lack of vitamins C and D respectively, these are highly associated with the well-known marks left on the skeleton, these diseases are found in places with high malnutrition foe example Africa, (Cunha, n.d). Walden (1991 P24)

“The underlying assumption that is inherent in any attempt to use death assemblage to predict something about the living is that the dead population is representative- or at least typical- of the live population. Given all the non-random events that surround death and burial, not to mention preservation and recovery, this is at best an approximation, and at worst the two (the live and the dead) bear no epidemiological relation to each other whatsoever. However, it is clearly important to know where on this spectrum a particular group, or set of groups, lies, especially if the data derived from their study are to be used to construct life tables, to make inferences about changing patterns in disease or dietary habits, or to draw any of the other demographic conclusions that are so commonly bandied about”.

It is clear that the use of forensic anthropology is a highly underappreciated science, however, their role within all forensic cases is just as important as any other role within the investigation. Without the wealth of knowledge that the forensic anthropologist has to offer in cases where the only evidence is the human remains. It would prove extremely difficult in producing a biological profile of skeletal remains or those that have been involved in mass disasters without this knowledge. The forensic anthropologist has enabled the use of metric data to be used alongside morphological methods, they are the key to reading and placing back together the puzzle of what happened to that person and to provide the family with the answers that only they have the ability unlock.

The musculoskeletal system relies on its framework of connective tissue and muscle cells to work correctly so the human body can move and exercise. It is important to have a healthy musculoskeletal system to ensure that when an individual matures, their bones are healthy and not at risk of developing diseases such as osteoarthritis or osteoporosis.

The Muscular System

Connective Tissue

Connective tissue forms a framework wherein epithelial tissue rests, and is the most abundant of the primary tissues, derived from embryonic mesenchyme with 3 main components: cells, fibres, and ground substance. Their primary function is to connect various parts of the body (LibreTexts, 2020). The fibroblast is a common type of cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix, secretes collagen, and plays a role in wound healing. The ground substance is an amorphous gel-like substance in the extracellular space where all other connective tissue elements are imbedded (King, 2015). It is transparent, colourless, and fills the spaces between fibres and cells. Fibres are strands of protein that make the connective tissue pliable, and are divided into 3 types:

1. Collagenous – the dominant fibre type in most connective tissues. Their primary function is to add strength, and they are composed of microfibrils which are only visible using electron microscopy due to their thickness being around 1-10µm (Slomianka, 2009). They provide cushioning to many areas of the body including skin. A tensile force of several hundred kg/cm2 is required to tear collagen fibres as they only stretch by 15-20% (Study, 2020).
2. Reticular – very delicate fibres which form fine networks. They can be found around the kidney, spleen, and lymph nodes (Rogers, 2020).
3. Elastic – these can stretch to about 150% of its original length; they resume their original length if the tensile forces applied are relaxed. They provide elasticity to the dermis and assist in recovery from deformation (Kesson et al, 2005).

Muscle Cells

Adipocytes are specialised for synthesis and storage of fat. They are important for thermoregulation, storing calories as lipids, and organising energy sources in response to hormonal stimulation (Guertin, 2020). Under microscopy, it appears bloated with triglycerides. White adipocytes store energy as a single large lipid droplet, whereas brown adipocytes store energy in multiple small lipid droplets specifically for use as fuel to generate body heat through thermogenesis.

Leukocytes are white blood cells that are found in connective tissue (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020). They have small amount of slightly basophilic cytoplasm and a darkly stained nucleus due to condensed chromatin. They provide various immune defence responses by ingesting foreign materials and cellular debris with macrophages, by destroying infection agents, or by producing antibodies with plasma cells. Mast cells promote the process of inflammation essential for healing.

Muscle Tissue Types

Muscle tissue is highly cellular with a rich supply of blood vessels. There are 3 types of muscle tissue cell:

1. Skeletal – voluntary muscle, therefore humans actively control its function through nerve signals. They are cylindrical, attached to the bone and form a distinct organ of muscle tissue, blood vessels, and tendons which cover our bones, allowing movement.
2. Smooth – involuntary muscle, which has no striation. They are spindle-shaped and are thousands of times shorter than skeletal muscle at around 30 to 200µm. They are found in the walls of hollow organs such as uterus and stomach. Skin also contains smooth muscle which allows hair to rise in response to cold temperatures.
3. Cardiac – known as myocardium, this tissue is specialised to form the heart. It contracts involuntarily to keep the heart pumping blood around the body using nerve impulses, and as this is lifelong it has high endurance. Its fibres are arranged in an interlocking pattern to ensure that each fibre is in contact with others to form a network (Eske, 2019). They have pacemaker cells which set its own contraction rhythm known as autorhythmicity.

Sliding Filament Theory

Muscle contraction is a process whereby force is generated within muscle tissue, increasing force being exerted on the tendons. This involves a chemo-mechanical energy conversion that is carried out by the actin/myosin complex activity, which generates force through ATP hydrolysis. Actin and myosin myofilaments stack and overlap in regular arrays to form sarcomeres, and therefore appear striated under microscopy (Gillespie, 2009). Actin and myosin filaments slide against each other, creating muscle contraction known as Sliding Filament Theory.

Skeletal Muscle Fibres

Due to the body’s diverse requirements of its skeletal muscles, there are different types of skeletal muscle fibres: type I, type IIa, and type IIb. Type I contract slowly over long periods of time, such as during walking. Type IIa have a fast contraction speed and are less reliant on oxygen so are suited to weight training. Type IIb fibres are suited to speed and strength activities due to their rapid contraction speed (IvyRose Holistic, 2020).

The Skeletal System

The skeleton consists of 206 bones, with male and female skeletons varying; the female pelvis is larger to accommodate childbirth. The axial skeleton contains 80 bones and consists of the spine, ribcage and skull. The appendicular skeleton contains 126 bones including upper limbs, pelvis and lower limbs. It makes functions like walking and arm movements possible. The skeletal system performs 5 key functions: 1) protection – structure of bones protects internal organs from damage, like the skull protects the brain; 2) shape – bone structure gives the body shape, and determines height; 3) support – skeleton supports the body by keeping internal organs in place, like the spine helping an individual to stand straight; 4) movement – muscles are attached to bones, so when they contract they cause bones to move; red cell production – spongy tissue inside long bones manage red cell production.

Connective Tissue in the Skeletal System

Connective tissue connects muscles to bone to connect joints together. There are 3 main types:

1. Tendons – fibrous connective tissue known as collagen, attaching muscle to bone and transmitting the force which the muscle exerts. This occurs because tendons are bound together tightly so when a muscle contracts, tension is created which causes movement. They do not require much oxygen due to limited blood supply, so anaerobic exercises are beneficial for tendon growth (Ekomaru, 2019). However because exercises like walking can be taxing, a thin layer called tendon sheath is found around the ankles to protect the tendon from damage.
2. Ligaments – short band of tough fibrous connective tissue which connects bones to bones at a joint. They are arranged in parallel bundles to increase their strength. There are two types: extracapsular which hold bones in place, provide stability, and prevent dislocation injuries; and intracapsular which stabilise the knee joint and provide further support.
3. Cartilage – a supple, elastic tissue which allows facial movement. It provides supportive structure for the external ear (elastic), septum (hyaline), and knee joint (fibro), and acts as a shock absorber to prevent abrasion (Biology Dictionary, 2019).

Types of Bones

The main types of bone in the human body:

• Flat – somewhat flattened, and provide protection like a shield such as the skull, sternum, and pelvis.
• Long – includes the femur, and they function to support the weight of the body for skeletal mobility.
• Short – as long as they are wide and located in the wrist and ankle joints, they provide stability and some movement.
• Irregular – they have various complex shapes which help to protect internal organs, such as the spinal cord.
• Sesamoid – embedded in tendons, and small. They protect tendons from wear and tear with a smooth surface, such as the patella.

Long bones have some main features. Their membrane covers the outside of the diaphysis (known as the bone shaft, made of compact bone tissue) or the epiphysis, and its main function is to act as a protective covering to supply blood and nourishment to the bone through tiny openings carried by blood vessels. The diaphysis and epiphysis meet at the metaphysis and epiphyseal line, and remnants of the growth plate is found here. The articular cartilage is smooth translucent tissue found at movable joints, allowing gliding actions to occur during movement. There are 2 types of bone tissue: the cancellous bone is a spongy area crammed between compact tissues of the flat bones (Henderson, 2020). The compact bone is the rigid covering which forms the coarsened shell that gives bone its durability.

Types of Joints

Structural classification divides joints into fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial joints depending on the material composing the joint. Fibrous joints are held together by fibrous connective tissue, with no cavity present between the bones. Cartilaginous joints are connected by cartilage, and have some movement. Synovial joints have space between the bones, which is filled with synovial fluid for lubrication to reduce friction, allowing for greater movement such as the ball and socket joint like the shoulder.

Lever System

A lever system is a rigid bar which moves on a fixed point called the fulcrum when force is applied. Movement is possible by lever systems that are formed by our muscles and joints working together. In a first class lever, the fulcrum is the middle component between effort and load. An example is extension of the elbow. In a second class lever, the load is the middle component. An example is plantar flexion like calf raises. Third class lever is the most common, where the effort is the middle component. An example is flexion and extension at knee joint like running and jumping (Waldlen, 2020).

Muscles must work in pairs to produce effective movement. Depending on the movement, muscles can be termed: antagonist – opposes the movement of the agonist; synergist – stabilise a joint where movement occurs; fixator – accountable for sustaining the origin of the agonist.

Ossification

Ossification begins during prenatal development into adulthood, and is the process wherein bone tissue is created from cartilage. In intramembranous ossification, bone develops directly from mesenchymal tissue, but in endochondral ossification, bone develops by replacing hyaline cartilage.

Bone remodelling is a lifelong process wherein mature bone tissue is turned over through the work of osteoclasts, osteocytes and osteoblasts. This repairs flaws in bones resulting from everyday movements (Wakim & Grewal, 2020). Additionally, remodelling helps regulate mineral homeostasis by releasing minerals into the blood or vice versa.

Musculoskeletal Disorders

Disorders of the musculoskeletal system occur for many reasons. While trauma is an obvious cause such as broken bones, there are many other pathologies that are not caused by trauma.

Rickets affects adolescent bone development along with painful bone deformation due to lack of vitamin D or calcium, or rarely genetics. It can occur in adults, known as osteomalacia, and is due to diet (NHS, 2020).

Upon maturity, bone tissue naturally decreases leading to weaker bone strength. Osteoporosis can be delayed by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly (NHS, 2020). Women are at higher risk of developing osteoporosis. If an individual takes calcium regularly at a younger age, they will have stronger bones and will not weaken as easily when older.

Conclusion

The musculoskeletal system is a varied, developed framework in which joints, muscle cells and connective tissue work together to perform all the daily activities of an individual. A healthy diet is vital to ensure that diseases are not obtained, and to maintain a healthy system.

References

1. Achudhan Karunaharamoorthy (2020) Smooth musculature Available at: https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/smooth-musculature [Accessed 4 July 2020].
2. Beverley Henderson (2020) How the Skeletal System Works. Available at: https://www.dummies.com/careers/medical-careers/medical-terminology/how-the-skeletal-system-works/ [Accessed 4 July 2020].
3. Biology Dictionary (2019) Cartilage Function. Available at: https://biologydictionary.net/cartilage/ [Accessed 4 July 2020].
4. D King (2015) Connective Tissue Study Guide. Available at: http://www.siumed.edu/~dking2/intro/ct.htm [Accessed 4 July 2020].
5. David Guertin (2020) Adipocytes. Available at: https://www.umassmed.edu/guertinlab/research/adipocytes/ [Accessed 4 July 2020].
6. Dr. Chukwudi Ekomaru (2019) The function of tendons in the musculoskeletal system. Available at: https://3d4medical.com/blog/tendon [Accessed 4 July 2020].
7. Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) White blood cell. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/white-blood-cell [Accessed 4 July 2020].
8. Gillespie, ME (2009) Striated Muscle Contraction. Avalable at: https://reactome.org/content/detail/R-HSA-390522 [Accessed 4 July 2020].
9. IvyRose Holistic (2020) Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibres. Available at: https://www.ivyroses.com/HumanBody/Muscles/types-of-skeletal-muscle-fibers.php [Accessed 4 July 2020].
10. Jamie Eske (2019) What to know about cardiac muscle tissue. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325530#cardiac-muscle-tissue [Accessed 4 July 2020].
11. Kara Rogers (2020) Reticular cell. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/reticular-cell [Accessed 4 July 2020].
12. LibreTexts (2020) Characteristics of Connective Tissue Available at: https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Anatomy_and_Physiology/Book%3A_Anatomy_and_Physiology_(Boundless)/4%3A_Organization_at_the_Tissue_Level/4.3%3A_Connective_Tissue/4.3A%3A_Characteristics_of_Connective_Tissue#:~:text=Structural%20elements%20of%20connective%20tissue,have%20fibers%20running%20through%20it.&text=It%20is%20composed%20of%20proteoglycans,to%20attach%20to%20the%20matrix [Accessed 4 July 2020].
13. Lumen (2020) Connective Tissue Proper. Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ap1x94x1/chapter/connective-tissue-proper/ [Accessed 4 July 2020].
14. Lutz Slomianka (2009) Connective Tissues. Available at: https://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/mb140/CorePages/Connective/Connect.htm#:~:text=In%20connective%20tissues%20cells%20typically,reticular%20fibres%20and%20elastic%20fibres [Accessed 4 July 2020].
15. Michael Waldlen (2020) Lever Systems in Biomechanics. Available at: https://www.teachpe.com/biomechanics/angular-motion/lever-systems [Accessed 4 July 2020].
16. Monica Kesson, Elaine Atkins (2005) Soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/elastic-fiber [Accessed 4 July 2020].
17. Newcastle University (2020) Skeletal muscle structure and function. Available at: https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/katarzynapirog/skeletal-muscle-structure-and-function/ [Accessed 4 July 2020].
18. NHS (2020) Osteoporosis. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/osteoporosis/#:~:text=Osteoporosis%20is%20a%20health%20condition,broken%20hip [Accessed 4 July 2020].
19. Physicians’ Review Network (2016) Surprising Reasons for Weight Gain. Available at: https://www.medicinenet.com/weight_gain_shockers_pictures_slideshow/article.htm [Accessed 4 July 2020].
20. Study (2020) What is Collagen? Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-collagen-definition-types-and-diseases.html [Accessed 4 July 2020].
21. Suzanne Wakim & Mandeep Grewal (2020) Bone Growth, Remodeling, and Repair. Available at: https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Human_Biology/Book%3A_Human_Biology_(Wakim_and_Grewal)/14%3A_Skeletal_System/14.5%3A_Bone_Growth%2C_Remodeling%2C_and_Repair#:~:text=The%20bone%20can%20no%20longer,new%20bone%20to%20replace%20it [Accessed 4 July 2020].
22. University of Leeds (2020) Extracellular Matrix. Available at: https://www.histology.leeds.ac.uk/tissue_types/connective/connective_groundS.php [Accessed 4 July 2020].

The human body is made up of various kinds of organ system. Out of which, the system which comprises of bones etc. is known as Skeletal System. This system is made up of Bones, Ligaments, Cartilages, Tissues etc. and forms the basic structure of the human body which provides the shape, size and rigidity to it. The skeleton can be classified into two, namely, Axial Skeleton and Appendicular Skeleton. The vertebral column, the rib cage, the skull and other associated bones are together called as Axial Skeleton. Similarly, the Shoulder girdle, the pelvic girdle and upper and lower limb bones are together called as Appendicular Skeleton.

The Vertebral Column or Backbone or Spine is one of the important parts of Axial Skeleton. The Spinal column is a strong but multi-functional structure. Its main aim is to protect the spinal cord which starts from brain, runs through the column and then branches out to all the parts of human body. The spinal column is made of 33 distinct bones named as Vertebrae which exists from Skull to Pelvis. The Vertebrae are stacked one over other and the distance gap between two consecutive vertebrae is known as inter-vertebral distance. The complete Vertebral column is divided into 5 different parts, namely, Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar, Sacrum and Coccyx.

The normal curvature of spine when viewed from side has four curves, namely, Cervical Curve, Thoracic Curve, Lumbar Curve and Sacral Curve. For a healthy normal spine, the thoracic spine should have a natural Kyphosis angle of 20⁰-45⁰, whereas, the normal Lordosis angle should be around 39⁰-53⁰.

As referred to already publish papers, it is observed that most of the medical practitioner including doctors and physiotherapists decide their medication technique, especially related to the spine; on the basis of the spine curvatures. Hence, even a small deviation in the curvature measured from any instrument can lead to drastic changes and the whole medication can go wrong. Therefore, it was required to make a system which can give accurate results and also remain cheap so as to facilitate even an ordinary physiotherapist to afford. It has been seen that the measuring curvature of spine is the easiest among all the body parts, and hence number of instruments (not available in India), are available. But every instrument has its advantages and disadvantages, for example, inclinometer is cheap and affordable, but not accurate, whereas, photogrammetry is accurate but costly. Therefore, there is a need to develop something accurate and affordable.

The curvature of spine is very important part as the main strength to the spine and the body comes from the curvature. It is also seen that mostly the disfunctioning of the upper body part of the body is closely linked with the postural deformity. It is also observed that human spends most of the time sitting, and while sitting he distorts the most of the curvature, there by introducing more loads on the surrounding muscles and vertebrae, and hence there is a dire requirement of ergonomic chairs, cushions etc., to prevent this distortions from ruining the health of nation.

For most of the spine problems for the kids below 15 years of age, it has been deduced from some previous studies that they can be cured if the proper medication is provided before a stipulated amount of time. It is observed among the kids of age group between 10 to 16 year olds, 2 to 4% of them suffer from the Scoliosis defect of the spine. This deformity which is common in younger age, is very big issue and problematic once the kid is fully grown. Hence, for the early diagnosis of such defects among kids, a spine curvature measuring instrument is required which is accurate in measuring and affordable for every parent. The model of SCMM is made keeping in view all these factors, to serve the society in becoming a better and healthier one.

As we have seen in elders, as they grow older there is a fall in the upper back. Survey has determined that this fall of the upper back is recurrent every year. Also it has been hypothesized that due to this fall of the upper back the center of pressure gets displaced towards the limit of the stability and therefore affects the balance which makes elders get bedridden. The researchers have linked this fall of the upper back to the improper postural control by the individuals. Hence the study of the different spine curvature is necessary to determine the back shape or posture that causes the unbalance. So that the elders can be put through proper treatment with strengthening or balance exercises to improve balance and posture and hence reduce the risk of the fall of the back.

In the current generation, as the technologies have improved over the years the physical work of the people has reduced to a greater extent because of which the required work that has to be given to the spine to keep it away from any pain has been affected. As a result the number of people fighting with the back pain is increasing significantly. And also the back pains can be due many reasons like slouching while sitting, due to lifting heavy weights, twisting uncomfortably and overstretching. Surveys show that 5-10% of the sick cases are related the back problem and these stats show the economic expenses involved in this issue.

After considering the above reasons to study the spinal curvature, scholars worked out some sophisticated methods to study the spinal curvature. One such method is the radiographic assessment which is very expensive and highly skilled labor is required to operate the machine. But above that the major drawback of this machine is the radiation emitted from the machine which can cause other health issues to the individual under repeated study. So even though we are able to study the spine curvature but this can be only at some risk. So now we have to start developing a method which can get us the values as accurate as the values from the radiography assessment. So we need explore methods which can operated either manually or mechanically with the ease of usability and also should be easily accessible.

Each system of our body has different structures and functions that work together to keep our bodies healthy and functioning. Musculoskeletal system consists of 2 systems- muscular and skeletal systems. These systems are responsible for body movements, protection of internal organs, support, and posture.

Skeletal system is divided into two skeletons: axial and appendicular skeleton. Axial skeleton contains the skull, vertebral column, and thoracic cage. Main functions are protection of our brain, spinal cord, organs in the thorax and support of the head, neck, and trunk. Axial skeleton plays an important role in movement and posture. Appendicular skeleton consists of upper and lower limbs that are appended (attached) to the axial skeleton with pectoral girdle or pelvic girdle. Pectoral or shoulder girdle consists of the scapula and clavicle. It connects arms to axial skeleton. Pelvic girdle is formed by sacrum (part of the axial skeleton) and hip bones to connect legs to axial skeleton. Main function of the appendicular skeleton is movement.

Skeletons consist of bones, cartilages, ligaments, and joints. Bones are made of compact and spongy bone. Compact bone is smooth and dense and spongy bone is like honeycomb made of trabeculae and spaces that are filled with yellow or red bone marrow. Classification of bones is by their shape. Long bones are bigger in length, smaller in width and they have enlarged ends. Most of the bone contains compact bone and ends of long bones consist of spongy bone. Examples of long bones are limbs like bones in the forearm, fingers, legs. Short bones are cube-shaped bones that mostly contain spongy bones. Compact bones make an outer layer of the short bones. Examples of short bones are wrist and ankles. Flat bones are thin, flattened and curved and consist of spongy bone between 2 thin layers of compact bone. Most of the skull bones, ribs and breastbone are flat bones. Irregular bones are bones that cannot be put in any of the previously mentioned groups like vertebrae. Irregular bones are similar to short bones. They are mainly made of compact bone surrounded by compact bone.

Bones are made of 3 types of cells. Osteoblasts are immature bone cells. Their function is to build a new bone when it is growing, healing or remodeling. To make bones strong, osteoblasts are making collagen fibers that are mineralized. Osteocytes are mature bone cells located in lacunae. Their function is maintenance of the bone matrix. They can also trigger bone remodeling for maintenance of calcium homeostasis. Osteoclasts are cells that break down bone matrix during a process called bone resorption.

If osteoclasts are more active than osteoblasts, osteoporosis can occur. Osteoporosis is a disease which results in bone loss and decreased bone density. This can lead to higher risk of fractures.

Joints and ligaments bind bones together and give mobility to the skeleton. Ligaments allow joint movement and make sure that movement does not take another direction. Joints are classified structurally and functionally. Structurally joints are classified as fibrous, cartilaginous, and synovial joints. Fibrous joints tightly connect bones by fibrous tissue. Fibrous joints can be found in the skull, where teeth meet facial bones and between tibia and fibula (lower leg bones). Cartilaginous joints have 2 types: synchondroses and symphyses. Synchondroses are immovable and linked by hyaline cartilage, but symphyses are slightly movable and linked by fibrocartilage discs. Synovial joints are found in the limbs where bone ends are separated by a joint cavity. These joints contain articular cartilage that covers bone ends, articular capsule that covers joint surface, joint cavity that contains synovial fluid and reinforcing ligaments that are the fibrous layer of the capsule. Functionally joints are classified as immovable, slightly movable and freely movable joints. Immovable joints are found in places where organ protection is important and freely movable joints are found in the limbs.

Skeletal system is responsible for other organ system protection, fat and mineral storage in bones, formation of blood cells in red bone marrow, support, and movement. (Mitchell, 2015, p.43) For movement to happen, each bone is attached to muscles with tendons. Muscles are responsible for movement of skeleton, movement in organ systems, for example heart contractions, maintenance of posture, heat generation.

There are 4 characteristics and 3 types of muscles. Excitability is the ability of a cell to receive and respond by changing membrane potential. Contractility is the ability to shorten (contract) when stimulated. Extensibility is the ability to stretch beyond their resting length while relaxed. Elasticity is the ability to recoil its resting length after being stretched. Muscles have 3 categories: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle.

Skeletal muscles are attached to the skeleton and have a striated look. This is voluntary muscle and is consciously controlled. Sometimes skeletal muscle contractions can happen involuntarily when reflex is activated. Muscle fibers have multiple nuclei and contain myofibrils. Myofibrils are contractile elements made of myofilaments: actin and myosin. Actin is thin filament and myosin is thick filament. For muscle to contract, thin filaments slide past the thick filaments and muscle contracts. For muscles to remain healthy, they need to be active. If muscle activity is decreased, muscles get immobilized and their strength declines. This results in a disease called disuse atrophy.

Smooth muscle mostly makes up walls of hollow organs except the heart. This is involuntary muscle. Muscle fibers of smooth muscle are spindle-shaped with one nucleus. Fibers are often arranged in two layers that alternately contract and relax, changing shape and size of the organ.

Heart is made up of cardiac muscle. This type of muscle like smooth muscle is involuntary. Cardiac muscle cells are striated and have one nucleus. Cardiac muscle contractions are controlled by the heart’s pacemaker and speed of contractions is controlled by the nervous system.

References

1. Marieb, E. N., & Hoehn, K. (2018). Human anatomy & physiology (11th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
2. Marieb, E. N., & Keller, S. M. (2017). Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology (12th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
3. Mitchell, D. T. (2015). Introduction to Anatomy & Physiology: The musculoskeletal system. New Leaf Publishing Group.
4. Palastanga, N., & Soames, R. W. (2011). Anatomy and Human Movement: Structure and function (6th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences.