Joint pains and osteoarthritis have always been linked to bad posture. New study reveals just how evolution plays a part in joint pains and how to hip pain relief can be improved.
Scientists at the University of Oxford have studied over 300 specimens from different species and studied how bones changed over 400 million years.
Some researchers have found that humans too have evolutionary quirks. It was found in some people who have spines with shapes closer to that of chimpanzees are nearest ape relative, are prone to low back pain.
Dr. Paul Monk, a lead researcher at the Nutfield Orthopedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science stated that patients come to his clinic with similar orthopedic problems and he was interested to explore the cause of these common afflictions and the possibility of hip pain relief.
Scientists with the help of modern technology such as CT scans have studied 300 ancient specimens housed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington and the Natural History Museum at London.
By piecing the data together, researchers were able to create 3D models and spot the subtle changes in a single bone that occurred over millions of years as reported in the BBC.
One significant finding that the scientists discovered was that the neck of the thigh bone became increasingly thicker over time around the time when humans started walking on two feet.
The thicker the neck of the femur or the thigh bone becomes, the more likely it is for arthritis to develop around this bone. The trajectory is that the femoral neck will continue to grow thicker in the future leading to more cases of arthritis as was reported in 3D Print.
However, prediction bone development in the future is not set in stone. There are a myriad of factors to take into consideration as to how evolution occurs.
