The Relationship Between Intensity of Physical Activity and Entheseal Changes on the Lower Limb

Abstract

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 20th 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 © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

“…The results of this study suggest that the frequency and severity of ECs varied between workers and high officials, and between males and females. Several recent studies have supported an association between entheseal expression and physical activity, despite the involvement of other factors such as age and size (Al‐Oumaoui et al, ; Havelková et al, ; Kennedy, ; Niinimäki, ; Niinimäki & Sotos, ; Robb, ; Villotte & Knüsel, ; Wilczak, ; Zumwalt, ). Interestingly, ECs were used to study socio‐economic‐related differences in activity for past populations (Al‐Oumaoui et al, ; Havelková et al, ; Schrader, ; Schrader & Buzon, ; Steen, ; Yonemoto, ; Zabecki, ) Thus, one can prudently use the EC data from ancient Egyptians to develop hypotheses regarding divisions in labour within and between the two socio‐economic classes: workers and high officials.…”

“…Second, scores were converted into two categories: “mild ECs,” combining Grades 0–2, and “Heavy ECs,” combining Grades 3 and 4. The described system was implemented to minimise observed variance and to allow for using fibrous and fibrocartilaginous enthesis in the same analysis (Cardoso & Henderson, ; Milella et al, , ; Niinimäki & Sotos, ). Furthermore, this procedure allows a clear distinction between what might be ordinary daily activities (i.e., light EC expression) and heavy workloads (i.e., heavy EC expression).…”

“…Body size is another factor associated with ECs, where bigger individuals usually exhibit stronger changes (Acosta, Henderson, & Cunha, ; Al‐Oumaoui, Jiménez‐Brobeil, & du Souich, ; Myszka & Piontek, ; Niinimäki, ; Weiss, , ; Wilczak, ). Recently, several publications cautioned that the association of EC to physical activity might not be as strong as it was thought a decade ago (Cardoso & Henderson, ; Niinimäki, ; Niinimäki & Sotos, ; Villotte & Knüsel, ; Zumwalt, ). However, the conclusion of some of these reports may have been strongly influenced by their methodological choices (Karakostis, Hotz, Scherf, Wahl, & Harvati, , ).…”

Locomotor activity influences muscle architecture and bone growth but not muscle attachment site morphology

“…Muscle attachment sites (entheses) are used by researchers in fields as diverse as bioarchaeology and palaeontology to infer cultural behaviour (Weiss, 2007; Molnar, 2010), technology use (Eshed et al, 2004; Marzke et al, 2007; Drapeau, 2008), subsistence strategies (Hawkey, 1998), labour differences (Churchill and Morris, 1998; Villotte et al, 2010; Weiss, 2010; Havelková et al, 2011; Niinimäki, 2011; Niinimäki and Sotos, 2013), social stratification (Molnar, 2006; Havelková et al, 2011, 2013; Henderson et al, 2013; Nolte and Wilczak, 2013), locomotor patterns (Davis, 1964; McGowan, 1979; Eliot and Jungers, 2000; Wang et al, 2004; Zumwalt, 2005, 2006), and evolutionary pathways (Davis, 1964; McGowan, 1979; Eliot and Jungers, 2000; Wang et al, 2004; Marzke and Shrewsbury, 2006; Drapeau, 2008). …”

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).…”