"Bone former" hypothesis based on the selected medieval and early modern skeletal population from Poland.

Abstract

According to the "bone former" hypothesis, individuals may prone to new bone formation (osteophytes) in response to stress. Not many studies have addressed the bone formation conundrum, and previous findings are not unanimous. Determining the validity of the "bone former" concept is crucial for the reliable interpretation of osteophytes in past skeletal populations. This study set out to demonstrate that a relationship exists between vertebral and extravertebral osteophytes. The bone material used in the study came from the late medieval, early modern (14^th to 16^th century) population from Łekno (Poland), and included the skeletons of 188 adults (110 males, 56 females). Marginal osteophytes were scored in the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle. Vertebral osteophytes were analysed on the upper and lower margins of the vertebral body. The results showed that vertebral osteophytes were correlated with osteophytes in the shoulder (r = 0.578, p = 0.003), elbow (r = 0.416, p = 0.034), wrist (r = 0.619, p = 0.001), hip (r = 0.411, p = 0.024), and all the joints combined (r = 0.446, p = 0.014). Significant relationships between vertebral and extravertebral osteophytes were noted in the female group. It can be claimed that individuals are predicted/or not to be bone formers but whether these bone changes occur depends on the individual lifespan.