Skip to main content
Figure 11 | Scoliosis

Figure 11

From: Pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in girls - a double neuro-osseous theory involving disharmony between two nervous systems, somatic and autonomic expressed in the spine and trunk: possible dependency on sympathetic nervous system and hormones with implications for medical therapy

Figure 11

The change in the ribcage from funnel-shaped to barrel-shaped in 3 million years of evolution. Reassembly of the fossil skeleton (black) of "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) compared with the skeleton of a modern human female. The upper thorax is funnel-shaped with narrow shoulders, like modern-day chimpanzees (Figure 12). The blades of the ilia have turned in providing hip mechanics appropriate for erect walking. Compared with the modern adult human female, "Lucy" was much smaller with the relative brain size of a chimpanzee, chimpanzee-shaped thorax, a broad pelvis from iliac flaring and widening of sacral alae (possibly related to gut size), and totally bipedal (Diagram modified from [269] and Burwell et al [149]).

Back to article page

Scoliosis and Spinal Disorders

ISSN: 2397-1789

Contact us