Evaluating the efficiency of different recording protocols for entheseal changes in regards to expressing activity patterns using archival data and cross‐sectional geometric properties

Abstract

The differences found in the bilateral impact of age and body mass highlight the fact that the activity patterns of the individuals under examination must play an underlying role to EC expression, though current recording schemes for EC do not capture this, rendering further work in the direction of developing more elaborate recording standards imperative.

A Test of the Effectiveness of the Coimbra Method in Capturing Activity‐induced Entheseal Changes

“…It is worth noting that the different impact that age appears to have on the right and left sided elements is in agreement with the findings of Michopoulou et al () and may be interpreted as an indication of an underlying impact of activity, which has not been captured by CSG properties. However, it must be stressed that this only applies to the subscapularis and not the biceps brachii in the current study.…”

“…Such methods allow the study of the impact of activity patterns on ECs while controlling for the effect of other contributing factors. The results have so far supported the primary role of age in EC expression, followed by body size, while activity patterns also appear to exert a subtle impact on the observed changes (for example, Henderson & Nikita, ; Michopoulou et al, , but see also Villotte et al, for a more pronounced impact of activity). Despite the availability of statistical tests that allow the effective study of multifactorial phenomena, such as ECs, the optimum way to record ECs in order to capture activity‐induced alterations remains unclear.…”

Entheseal changes and demographic/health indicators in the upper extremity of modern Americans: Associations with age and physical activity

“…Our minimal findings with fibrocartilaginous entheses run counter to what has been asserted by Villotte et al () and is consistent with the findings of Michopoulou et al () who did not detect associations between fibrocartilaginous entheses and activity level. Our definition of activity attempted to incorporate more information from self‐reported data of employment and regular leisure activity, a practice Alves‐Cardoso and Henderson () suggest is most appropriate for approximating activity level, and thus, our activity category more extensively captured day‐to‐day physical activity and avoided a common bias with many documented skeletal collections.…”

“…The selection of using the Hawkey and Merbs () method stems from the original data collection featured in Godde and Wilson Taylor () taking place prior to the publication of the new method in Villotte et al (). However, these data have not been rendered useless by the new technique designed specifically for fibrocartilaginous entheses, as Michopoulou et al () noted that the Villotte et al () method was not a stronger means to model fibrocartilaginous entheses for activity than other techniques, including the method of Hawkey and Merbs (), which was designed to assess both entheseal morphologies (fibrous and fibrocartilaginous).…”

“…It is hard to separate body size from sexual dimorphism, making it difficult to understand the relationship each has to entheseal changes (Weiss et al, ). Higher entheseal change scores can correlate to a larger body size (Godde & Wilson Taylor, ; Godde & Wilson Taylor, ; Michopoulou, Nikita, & Henderson, ; Michopoulou, Nikita, & Valakos, ; Niinimäki, ; Weiss, ; Weiss, ), even in non‐human primates (Zumwalt, Ruff, & Wilczak, ). In the literature, males regularly display higher entheses scores than females (e.g., al‐Oumaoui et al, ; Havelková, Villotte, Velemínský, Poláček, & Dobisíková, ; Wilczak, ), reflecting differences among the sexes.…”