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posted by martyb on Monday April 22 2019, @11:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the ankle-bone-connected-to-the-shin-bone,-shin-bone-connected-to-the...well,-it-depends dept.

There are 206 bones in the human body, but for 39% of the population, that is not enough. According to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of Anatomy, a small bone in the back of the human knee (image) called the 'fabella' is 3.5x as frequent in humans as it was 150 years ago. The fabella was lost as our ancestors evolved.

"In old world monkeys, it appears to play a role in knee muscle mechanics" however in humans it's purpose, if it even has one, is unknown.

It might help “reduce friction within tendons, redirecting muscle forces, or, as in the case of the kneecap, increasing the mechanical force of that muscle,” [Michael Berthaume of Imperial College London] says in the release. “Or it could be doing nothing at all. . . .

The researchers did speculate on some of the factors involved

“The average human, today, is better nourished, meaning we are taller and heavier,” Berthaume says in a press release. “This came with longer shinbones and larger calf muscles—changes which both put the knee under increasing pressure. This could explain why fabellae are more common now than they once were.” The researchers suggest that genetics may influence whether people have the ability to develop fabellae, but if they do, environmental factors such as the mechanical forces that the knee experiences likely drive the bones’ formation.

While one's first inclination might be that having an extra bone is a good thing, this apparent 'appendix' of the skeletal system may be more trouble than it is worth.

Regardless of whether it provides a functional advantage, the bone has been linked to various ailments. Its presence can cause knee pain, for example, and people who suffer from osteoarthritis in their knees, for example, are about twice as likely to have it than those without osteoarthritis. The fabella can also create additional challenges for knee replacement surgery.

There can even be two (fabella bipartita) or three (fabella tripartita) of these bones, although this is rare.

Be honest - are you feeling the back of your knee to see if there's something there?


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by VeasMKII on Tuesday April 23 2019, @07:03AM

    by VeasMKII (2271) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 23 2019, @07:03AM (#833744) Homepage

    I mean, IQ hasn't been getting worse over time at all. Let alone that IQ is a poor metric for intelligence, it's still pretty easy to find evidence to the contrary. https://ourworldindata.org/intelligence [ourworldindata.org]

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