Entheseal changes: youth and work

Studies on the relationship between intensity of activity and entheseal changes (EC) have usually focused on the upper limb. Body size may bias lower limb EC, and thus evaluation of activity intensity may not be applicable. We study the effects of age, body size (as femoral length and femoral head superoinferior height) and intensity of physical activity on the lower limb EC. Our study sample (Helsinki) represents early 20 th century Finns where age, sex and occupation are known for the individuals. Due to small number of females only males were included in this study. Based on the reported occupation, the material was divided into heavy (N = 17) and light (N = 6) activity groups. Entheses were observed for ruggedness, and the obtained scores were transformed into binary variables. Intensity of physical activity did not result in differences in EC in the lower limb. Surprisingly, also body size as femoral maximum length and femoral head height did not affect lower limb entheses. Age, a significant biasing factor in the upper limb EC, resulted in changes in some lower limb entheses. This was similar for left and right sides. Our results indicate that there are factors other than size, age and labour intensity affecting EC in the lower limb. Thus, the use of lower limb EC in activity reconstructions is problematic. However, our sample size was small which restricts the generalization of the results. Copyright

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2012

Entheseal changes are traditionally included in a large array of skeletal features commonly referred to as ''skeletal markers of activity.'' However, medical studies and recent anthropological analyses of identified skeletal series suggest a complex combination of physiological and biomechanical factors underlying the variability of such ''markers.'' The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between age, sex, physical activity, and entheseal variability. To this end, 23 postcranial entheses are examined in a large (N 5 484) Italian con-*Correspondence to: Dr. in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

The entheses are the areas where tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules attach to the bone (Benjamin et al., 2002), and represent the only direct evidence of the musculotendinous system on skeletal remains. The entheseal changes (ECs; this term designates all alterations of entheses seen in the skeletal material; Jurmain & Villotte, 2010) have been largely explored in the last decades. The entheses are physiologically subjected to significant mechanical stress, which inevitably leads to some reaction in the bone tissue. Even if the extent to which the mechanical stress influences entheseal morphology with respect to other factors (age, hormonal factors, etc.) cannot be ascertained, entheses are widely used in the attempt to reconstruct biological

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2018

The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of the relationship between age and entheseal changes by using trends in living Americans compared to skeletal remains of modern Americans, which are applicable to the bioarchaeological record. Documentation of age, activity level, BMI, stature, and body mass were combined with entheseal change scores gathered from the upper extremity to statistically test the relationship between age and entheseal change with and without controls of documented demographic and health factors. An active subsample was constructed using self-reported repetitive activities and discernment of position within stated career. Fibrocartilaginous entheses reported in the literature to be better suited to estimate occupation were separated from other entheses. A series of Cochran-Mantel-Hanzel and ANOVA-based tests were applied to the data. Interobserver reliability was also examined with a linear-weighted Cohen's Kappa. Statistical analysis shows only one enthesis has a significant positive relationship with age and two with activity. BMI and body mass were associated with nine entheses that were spread across the occupationassociated fibrocartilaginous entheses and all other entheses. Interobserver reliability ranged from low to substantial agreement. Interobserver error estimates suggest some entheses are more reliable than others. Results provide little support for a relationship between age and entheseal changes, activity and entheseal changes, and occupation-associated fibrocartilaginous entheses, which partially coincides with previous research. An increase in activity with age in our sample, around the age of retirement, mirrors trends in living Americans and supports our conclusions. For bioarchaeologists, these results suggest interpretations of entheses should revolve around body size rather than activity levels.

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2014

Analyses of entheseal changes (EC) in identified skeletal samples employ a common research strategy based on the comparison between occupations grouped on the basis of shared biomechanical and/or social characteristics. Results from this approach are often ambiguous, with some studies that point to differences in EC between occupational samples and others failing to provide evidence of behavioral effects on EC. Here we investigate patterns of EC among documented occupations by means of a multivariate analysis of robusticity scores in nine postcranial entheses from a large (N=372) contemporary skeletal sample including specimens from one Italian and two Portuguese identified collections. Data on entheseal robusticity, analyzed by pooled sides as well by separated sides and levels of asymmetry, are converted in binary scores and then analyzed through nonlinear principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results of these analyses are then used for the classification of occupations. Differences between occupational classes are tested by MANOVA and pairwise Hotelling's test. Results evidence three classes which separate occupations related to farming, physically demanding but generalized occupation, and physically undemanding occupations, with the more consistent differences between the first and the last classes. Our results are consistent with differences in biomechanical behavior between the occupations included in each class, and point to the physical and social specificity of farming activities. On the other hand, our study exemplifies the usefulness of alternative analytical protocols for the investigation of EC, and the value of research designs devoid of a priori assumptions for the test of biocultural hypotheses.

Studies of ancient human skeletal remains frequently proceed from the assumption that individuals with robust limb bones and/or rugose, hypertrophic entheses can be inferred to have been highly physically active during life. Here, we experimentally test this assumption by measuring the effects of exercise on limb bone structure and entheseal morphology in turkeys. Growing females were either treated with a treadmill-running regimen for 10 weeks or served as controls. After the experiment, femoral cortical and trabecular bone structure were quantified with mCT in the mid-diaphysis and distal epiphysis, respectively , and entheseal morphology was quantified in the lateral epicondyle. The results indicate that elevated levels of physical activity affect limb bone structure but not entheseal morphology. Specifically, animals subjected to exercise displayed enhanced diaphyseal and trabecular bone architecture relative to controls, but no significant difference was detected between experimental groups in entheseal surface topography. These findings suggest that diaphyseal and trabecular structure are more reliable proxies than entheseal morphology for inferring ancient human physical activity levels from skeletal remains.

… : revista de ciencias …, 2006

To determine the independent effect of soft tissues on bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD), and how physical activity (PA) could affect these relationships, body composition by DXA, and the physical fitness (PF) were assessed longitudinally (3-yr) in 26 active and 16 non-active prepubertal boys. Significant advantage in the development of PF, muscle mass and total and lumbar spine BMC and total, lumbar spine and lower-limb BMD were found in the active compared with non-active boys. Results imply that during puberty, lean mass development is the best predictor of bone mass accrual; and physical activity promotes bone acquisition by increasing lean mass but also by lean massindependent mechanisms. RESUMEN Para determinar el efecto independiente de los tejidos blandos sobre el contenido mineral óseo (BMC) y la densidad (BMD), y como la actividad física (PA) podría afectar a ésta relación, evaluamos longitudinalmente (3 años) la composición corporal mediante DXA, y la condición física (PF) en 26 niños activos y 16 sedentarios, todos ellos prepúberes cuando comenzó el estudio. Los niños activos presentaban ventajas significativas en el desarrollo de la condición física y de la masa magra (masa muscular) comparados con los sedentarios. Igualmente, los niños activos acumularon más BMC en la región lumbar de la columna vertebral y en el total corporal y también más BMD en la región lumbar de la columna vertebral, en las extremidades inferiores y en el total corporal que sus compañeros sedentarios. Estos resultados sugieren que durante la pubertad, el desarrollo de la masa magra es el mejor predictor de la acumulación de masa ósea. Así mismo, la actividad física estimula la adquisición de masa ósea aumentando la masa muscular pero también mediante mecanismos independientes de la masa magra. Palabras clave: salud del esqueleto, composición corporal, desarrollo, ejercicio. MOTRICIDAD European Journal of Human Movement Vicente-Rodríguez, G.; Ara I.; Pérez-Gómez J.; Dorado C; Serrano-Sánchez, J.A. & Calbet, J. A. L. (2006) Muscle bone-interaction during growth: influence of physical activity 16, 1-18

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2009

Enthesopathies, in the guise of musculoskeletal skeletal stress markers (MSM), have been widely used to reconstruct activity levels in human skeletal populations. In general, studies have focused on their presence in the upper limb, which is used in the majority of daily activities. The aim of this study was to use some of the attachment sites on the humerus to explore the relationship between enthesopathy formation, activity, and the ageing process. The skeletal sample used in this study comprised male adult skeletons with known age-at-death and known occupations from the late-19th and early-20th century cemeteries in Portugal. The enthesopathies were recorded as either present or absent. Statistical analysis using Fishers exact tests and logistic regression was undertaken to determine whether associations could be found between spe

2014

Entheseal changes are potentially useful tools through which the daily activity patterns of individuals within a population may be interpreted through the perspective of a biocultural framework. Studying these patterns in Mycenaean Athens may assist in comprehending intensity of daily behavior of males and females. The upper limb bones of thirty four individuals from the skeletal collection of the Athenian Agora were studied in order to ascertain sex- and age-based differences in entheseal change patterns. The methodological approach implemented in this study differs from most previous studies in its analysis, as entheseal change scores were aggregated in groups that correspond to muscle movements. The results indicate that there is little significant overall sexual dimorphism of musculoskeletal entheseal change for this population sample when entheseal change is observed in individual muscle attachment sites. However, when the results are aggregated into groups that correspond to u...

Tourism Geographies, 2024

This article examines tourism as an everyday geopolitical project. Following feminist, queer, Black, caribbean and latin American contributions to the critical analysis of tourism geographies, it turns the attention to tourism's capacity to produce and reinforce uneven geographies, recreate colonial relations, and catalyze racialized and gendered dispossession. in doing so, it insists on the violent geographies of tourism and their sedimentations in everyday life.