What is The Mystery Behind the Curved Collarbones ?
The beauty bone is unique in everyone
The collarbone or the clavicle in the human body is the only horizontal bone that lies as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum or breastbone. The left and right clavicle are the predominant bones to give the overall shape which constitutively forms the width of the body. The collarbone keeps the scapula in place and allows the hands to hand freely. It is also the one for the shoulder musculature to grasp and thus hold the collar of the clothes in place, and for the reason is often referred to as the beauty bone.
The morphological structure of the collarbone is slightly curved in an S-shape and it is one of the few bones that show variations in its shape in almost every individual. About 80% of the clavicle is attained in a healthy individual by the age of 12.
The development of a clavicle takes usually longer than the other bones, and its shape and length may differ with geography, gender, and races. Meanwhile, there are also instances that many unrelated groups have a similar measurement of the bony tissue.
During the course of development of the collar bone, it is subjected to various stress and mechanical forces, which might shape the bone in a different structure. Similarly, unequal vascularization (blood supply), lateralization of the brain functions, activities like sports, handy-works together with handedness (left-handed/right-handed) causes the collar bone to acquire a shape best optimized for the body.
The findings were detected in a study conducted in 2016 in which 263 pairs of adult clavicles (195 Males and 68 Females) were examined from the autopsied bodies. The examined individuals were exclusively right-handed.
In the study, left clavicles were found to be longer in length and were more angulated than the right ones. The bones of the males, as assumed was found to be larger and heavier than the females. The left clavicles and the collarbones of females were comparatively more straight than male and the right clavicles.
The results were in accordance with the assumptions of handedness, as the dominant hand (right) clavicle was found more curved, with a larger diameter and hence less-angled than the submissive hand (left clavicle).
Reference:
Sehrawat, J. S., & Pathak, R. K. (2016). Variability in anatomical features of human clavicle: Its forensic anthropological and clinical significance. Translational Research in Anatomy, 3, 5–14.
Originally published at http://quora.com.
