Age changes of musculoskeletal stress markers and their inter-period comparisons

Abstract

This study examines the changes with age of 15 musculoskeletal stress markers (MSMs) in the upper and lower limb bones of modern Japanese with documented ages-at-death, on the basis of original scoring criteria corresponding to each advanced stage. The procedure investigated significant differences of mean scores among five age classes at intervals of 10 years from 20 to 69 years for each MSM, and also calculated Pearson's correlation coefficients between MSM scores and age-at-death. These examinations found that most MSMs had significant correlations with aging in both sexes. MSM data of the people from the Yoshigo shell-mound in the Jomon period (Yoshigo Jomon, c. 3000-2300 BP), the Doigahama site in the Yayoi period (Doigahama Yayoi, c. 2100-1800 BP), and modern Japanese were then compared between the 20-39 and 40-59 age categories (younger adult and older adult groups, respectively) for both sexes. Kruskal-Wallis tests found that many MSMs showed significant differences between periods in each age category. Mann-Whitney tests revealed that many MSMs of the prehistoric Yoshigo Jomon and Doigahama Yayoi showed few significant differences, whereas those of many modern Japanese differed significantly. Principal component analysis indicated that the results of a scatter diagram in the younger adult group were considerably different from those of the older adult group. These findings suggest that MSMs are age structured within human populations, but that differences also arise in association with intensity of activity.

Entheseal changes in ancient Egyptians from the pyramid builders of Giza—Old Kingdom

“…These sites have been chosen for the following reasons: (a) They are found on bones that are usually well preserved, (b) they can be easily observed, (c) they express the activity of certain muscles, and (d) they include the main articulations (Hawkey & Merbs, ; Peterson, ; Peterson & Hawkey, ). When more than one muscle was attached to the same area, and it was not easy to distinguish between them accurately, they were evaluated together as one entheseal site, according to Yonemoto (), Al‐Oumaoui et al (), and Takigawa (). These groups were at the lower limb and included gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscle attachments to greater trochanter of the femur; the adductor brevis , adductor magnus , adductor longus , vastus medialis , vastus lateralis , and short head of the biceps femoris attachments to the linea aspera ; and abductor hallucis and flexor digitorum brevis tendons' attachments to calcaneal tuberosity.…”

“…(2004), and Takigawa (2014). These groups were at the lower limb and included gluteus medius and gluteus minimus muscle attachments to greater trochanter of the femur; the adductor brevis, adductor magnus, adductor longus, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and short head of the biceps femoris attachments to the linea aspera; and abductor hallucis and flexor digitorum brevis tendons' attachments to calcaneal tuberosity.…”

“…Over the past few decades, many researchers have successfully used EC, along with archaeological records, to describe habitual activities in past populations (Al-Oumaoui et al, 2004;Kennedy, 1998;Lovell & Dublenko, 1999a;Milella et al, 2015;Molnar, 2006;Palmer et al, 2014;Schrader, 2012Schrader, , 2015Takigawa, 2014;Wagner, 2018;Yonemoto, 2016;Zabecki, 2009). Interestingly, ECs have been used extensively to understand social inequality and socio-economic dimorphism that existed on these populations (Al-Oumaoui et al, 2004;Schrader, 2015;Yonemoto, 2016;Zabecki, 2009).…”

The New ‘Coimbra Method’: A Biologically Appropriate Method for Recording Specific Features of Fibrocartilaginous Entheseal Changes

“…The recording of entheseal changes (EC) remains a widely used method for inferring activity patterns in past populations (Couoh, 2013;Havelková et al, 2013;Henderson, 2013;Lieverse et al, 2013;Palmer et al, 2014;Takigawa, 2014;Thomas, 2014). For this reason, developing a standard recording method encompassing both the biology and the variation in EC was deemed necessary at the 2009 Workshop on Musculoskeletal Stress Markers (MSM) held in Coimbra, Portugal (Santos et al, 2011).…”

The quest for the soldier’s rest: combining anthropological and archaeochemical approaches to study social and occupational diversity in the medieval graveyard of San Andrés de Arroyo (Palencia, Spain)

“…It is widely accepted that EC reflect the effect of muscle usage throughout the course of life. However, factors such as the age (Milella et al, 2012;Henderson, 2013;Niinimäki and Baiges Sotos, 2013;Takigawa, 2014;Schrader, 2015), sexual differences due to the existing gender-based differences between endocrine and metabolic systems (Havelková et al, 2013) alongside the particular anatomy of the attachment site have been claimed to be related to the level of the EC expression (Villotte et al, 2010b;Milella et al, 2012). From a medical point of view, EC can be induced by numerous conditions, ranging from pathological to behavioural (Jurmain, 2009).…”