bones

BONE APPRECIATION

Posted on by vlaw759

Several professions, including—but not limited to—doctors, trainers, physical therapist, dancers, and athletes are hyper aware of bones. But bones are important to everyone for simply living and functioning. So let’s show bones a little love!

Check out the rest of my October bone series: Bone Music, Bone Eating, and Fortune Telling Bones!

Metaphorical Bones

Basically, a metaphor is when the meaning isn’t what the words literally say. Writers are very aware of the value of metaphors, but they are more prevalent in our everyday lives than we might think. Bones are very useful this way!

bone appreciation
Skeleton authors are especially appreciative of bone-y metaphors

No backbone/spineless: lacking courage or willpower

Boneheaded: a stupid person, a dunce

A bone to pick with you: wanting to discuss a problem or grievance

Bone of contention: a point of disagreement, matter of dispute

Bag of bones: very thin, skinny

Bone weary: extremely tired, exhausted

Sawbones: a physician, especially a surgeon

No bones about it: to speak frankly or directly, no hesitation or evasion, to emphasize certainty

Funny bone: a point on the elbow, nerve close to the surface, which when struck produces a tingling sensation; sense of humor (as in, that joke tickles my funny bone)

Bare bones: essentials, basic elements, no details

Bone chilling: extremely cold, causing feelings of fear or terror

Boner: embarrassing mistake, an erection

And One Step Removed:

The original knuckle-dragger

Jawing: scolding, clamorous, or abusive talk

Knuckle-dragger: strong but dimwitted

Glass jaw: vulnerability physical (e.g., a boxer easily knocked out) or more metaphorical (a public figure’s vulnerability to destructive criticism)

Weak-kneed: lacking willpower, strength of character, or purpose, timid

Functional Bones

Functional can still be fancy!

Bones are absolutely essential for survival, movement, and health.

They protect internal organs from impact injury, especially the brain and heart.

They produce white blood cells to fight infection.

Bone marrow produces red blood cells to carry oxygen.

Bones literally hold up the body and keep it from collapsing to the ground. Your posture depends on your bones.

Certain types of bones store fat and then release it when your body needs energy.

Bones can also store necessary minerals when their blood levels are too high. They release these minerals when the body needs them. Examples include calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D.

Problem Bones

Very problematic bones indeed!

When things go wrong with bones, they can go very wrong indeed.

Arthritis. A painful condition where the joints wear down, causing inflammation in the joints.

Scoliosis. This is when the bones in the spine are no longer straight. Sometimes called curvature of the spine.

Cancers. Unfortunately, there are certain cancers that can form inside of your bones and impact your skeletal system.

Breaks. Bones can break — sometimes very badly. Although your bones can heal breaks on their own, people typically need medical help to help a broken bone heal properly.

Osteoporosis. Bone resorption disease characterized by thinning of bone tissue and decreased skeletal strength. It is the most common reason for broken bones among the elderly.

Healing Bones

Even bones need to rest

A broken bone can seriously hinder one’s ability to function, particularly a broken arm or leg. Fortunately, our bones can almost always heal themselves.

  • Bones repair themselves so quickly that you have a new skeleton about every seven years.
  • Arms are among the most commonly broken bones, accounting for almost half of all adults’ broken bones.
  • The collarbone is the most commonly broken bone among children.
  • Most broken bones heal on their own — blood vessels form in the area almost immediately after you break it to help the healing process begin. Within 21 days, collagen forms to harden and hold the broken pieces in place. A cast or brace only ensures the bone heals straight to avoid more problems in the future.

Fun Facts About Bones

This section is included because it is just so interesting—at least to me!

  • Technically, tooth enamel is bone, the strongest in the body.
  • The adult human body has 206 bones (some say up to 213), but infants have many more: 270-300 or so.
  • A 13th rib is rare — only 0.2% to 0.5% of people are born with it. This extra rib, called a cervical rib, can cause medical issues like neck pain, so people born with this extra rib often have it removed.
  • More than half the bones in the body are in the hands and feet. Each hand has 27 bones, while each foot has 26. Together, that’s a combined 106 bones.
  • The femur, or thighbone, is the longest and strongest bone of the human skeleton.
  • The stapes, in the middle ear, is the smallest and lightest bone of the human skeleton.
  • Bones stop growing in length during puberty. Bone density and strength will change over the course of a lifetime, however.
  • The upper arm bone is called the humerus, which gives the “funny bone” its name. In reality, anytime you bang your elbow, it’s the ulnar nerve causing the tingling feeling.
  • The only bone in the human body not connected to another is the hyoid, a V-shaped bone located at the base of the tongue. It anchors the tongue and helps you speak and swallow. It’s held in place by ligaments, muscles, and cartilage

Bottom Line: There are things about bones that anyone can and everyone should appreciate.

FORTUNE TELLING BONES

Posted on by vlaw759

My first experience with fortune telling bones was wishing bones: making a wish while breaking the turkey wishbone (the breast bone) with my sister, hoping for the longer piece and the wish fulfillment it would bring.

Check out the rest of this bone series: Bone Music, Bones are for Eating, and Bone Appreciation!

History of Telling One’s Fortune with Bones

Breaking a wishbone in The Courtship of Miles Standish (1923)

It turns out that the tradition of breaking a wishbone dates back over 2,400 years. Back then, the Etruscan people believed that chickens had all sorts of powers, including predicting the future and ensuring good fortune. The Etruscans thought that the collarbone of a chicken was sacred. After leaving it to dry in the sun, people would hold the unbroken bone and make a wish for good luck. The “wishbone tradition” originated in this early practice.

Subsequently, the people of Rome adopted the wishing tradition along with other Etruscan customs. They fought over the unbroken bones of chickens. It may be that the phrases, “I need a lucky break,” or “I never get a break,” came from the loser in the tug of collarbone contest.

The wishing bone tradition spread throughout England. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they brought the custom of breaking the wishbone with them. Although there were no chickens in North America then, turkeys were abundant. European settlers transferred the custom from chickens to turkeys.

Painful Fortune Telling Bones

Some people have weather bones. I.e., they can predict changes in the weather by “feeling it” in their bones. Is this a real thing? Yes. Changes in barometric pressure and temperature can dramatically affect arthritic bones.

arthritis fortune telling bones

As many as two-thirds of people who live with chronic joint pain believe there’s a connection between their pain and changes in the weather. In a 2007 study, researchers at Tufts University found that for every 10-degree temperature drop, there was a corresponding increase in arthritis pain—i.e., the colder the weather, the greater the pain. They also reported that increasing barometric pressure increased pain, which makes sense because colder air is heavier. So, for (at least some) people, joint pain is a predictor of colder weather.

What about other methods of bone divination? I don’t have the space to discuss them all here, but many resources online provide more details and examples.

Osteomancy

Osteomancy is an ancient form of predicting the future by tossing a set of animal bones onto the ground and interpreting their positions and orientations. A set of bones for divination can be used repeatedly.

Modern practitioners of osteomancy say one should either use bones found in nature or purchase an ethically sourced set. The ideal bones for osteomancy come from animals who died of natural causes.

Scapulimancy

Deer scapula

Scapulimancy is divination using scapulae (shoulder blades). It is/was most widely practiced in China as oracle bones, but has also been independently developed in other areas, including the West.

Generally, people used scapulimancy in predicting future weather events and personal health status. Some religious practices also required fortune telling through bones.

Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, practitioners simply examined the scapula of a slaughtered animal. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa, and the Near East.

The second form involves the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results. People practiced this form in East Asia and North America.

Rituals surrounding the reading of scapulae varied widely, and I don’t have the space to go into many details here. Suffice it to say the practice is ancient.

Scapulimancy in East Asia

Mongolians were one of the earliest peoples to use scapulimancy, according to archaeological digs in Inner Mongolia dating scapulae to approximately 3322 BCE. Diviners referred to divination manuals to guide their interpretation of the animal remains, reading the color of the bones and formation of cracks.

Archaeological sites along the south coast and off-lying islands of the Korean peninsula show that people used deer and pig scapulae in divination during the Korean Protohistoric Period, c. 300 BCE – 300/400 CE.

Chinese fortune telling bones from the Shang Dynasty

Archeological discoveries in China have yielded many specimens from a period spanned from 1250 to 1046 BCE. Ancient diviners likely exposed the bones (pig, sheep, cattle, and deer) to heat, deriving meaning from cracks that formed. The reading provided predictions for agricultural and health purposes.

Chapter 5 of the Kojiki, the Japanese Record of Ancient Matters, also mentions fortune telling bones. The heavenly deities used this process of scapulimancy during a consultation by lesser gods.

Scapulimancy in Europe and the Middle East

Scapulimancy is a method of divination among Greek and Serb farmers, even today. The memoirs of several warriors who fought during the Greek War of Independence include references. After feasts of roast lambs or kids, anyone who knew how to “read” a scapula would clean it of any remaining flesh and, lifting it up to the light, interpret the various shadowy bits showing on the transparent part of the bone.

In European Renaissance magic, scapulimancy was classified as one of the seven “forbidden arts”, along with necromancy, geomancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy (palmistry), and hydromancy.

Evidence of Arabic scapulimancy is sparse. A Florentine manuscript dated to the 1600s is currently the most referenced source and attributes the practice of scapulimancy in medieval Western European civilizations to the migration of traditions and ideas from the Arabic world. Historians have proposed trade across the Silk Road as a medium through which scapulimantic practices pervaded medieval European traditions from merchant trade with Arabic nomads.

Scapulimancy in South Africa

Zulu diviners in South Africa, known as izangomas, traditionally used bone reading in conjunction with other rituals involving herbal concoctions to communicate with spirits and those who have passed. The izangoma placed treated bones into the medicine, then interpreted aspects of the scapula floating above the liquid as spiritual communication. People within the community will seek out an izangoma if they would like personal questions answered or to communicate with the deceased. Witch doctors in many African communities still use scapulimancy and other bone reading rituals in a wide array of traditional healing ceremonies.

Astragalomancy

Mongolian astragli fortune telling bones
Mongolian astragali

Astragalomancy (also known as cubomancy) is a form of divination that uses dice specially marked with letters or numbers. Historically, the “dice” were usually knucklebones or other small bones of quadrupeds.

Each face of the die bears a symbol to convey meaning either to the reader or the divine powers. The diviner interprets this sequence according to certain rules – usually rules related to a religion (e.g. Tibetan Buddhism and the Mo system of cubomancy).

The practice of determining divine truth via random castings of dice or bones stretches back before recorded history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art displays bone “dice” (hakata) used by the Shona people of southern Africa for thousands of years.

Greek women playing knucklebones

Archaeologists have found marked astragali at many digs around the Mediterranean, including a site in Athens, Greece, dating to about 500 BCE. The Ancient Greeks performed astragalomancy by rolling dice and then consulting “dice oracles”, tables of divination results carved into statues or monoliths. In addition to matching the numbers on the astragali to the dice oracles, practitioners also held that certain numbers corresponded with particular divinities and would bring divine blessings.

The huayru is a dice game people play in South America at funerals. The game is traditionally played with llama bones, as they are believed to have a special power to attract the soul of the deceased. Reasons for playing this game revolve around divining the will of the recently deceased, often to communicate and receive guidance. The players of the game try to influence the results of the dice by offering prayers or pouring libations. (To me, this seems similar to blowing on dice before a roll for luck.)

Today, many people still call dice “bones”—whatever their material—because they were originally made of bone, as outlined above. If you want real bone dice, they are readily available online.

When everything rides on the roll of the dice, it reminds me of the wishbone tradition I started with.

Bottom Line: People have used bones to predict the future since time out of mind. Should you wish to try your hand, you can still acquire the bone ‘tools’ you need.

BONES ARE FOR EATING

Posted on by vlaw759

In October, my thoughts turn to skeletons. But there is much to bones beyond Halloween decor. In this second bone blog of the month, I turn to food, eating bones to keep body and soul together.

Check out the rest of my October bone series: Bone Music, Fortune Telling Bones, and Bone Appreciation!

Bone Marrow

marrow scoop eating bones
English marrow scoop, 1792

Humans have always consumed the marrow found in the long bones of animals. (Long bones are those that are longer than they are wide. For example, animal legs.) Today, marrow is found in bone-in cuts of meat from butchers or supermarkets.

European diners in the 18th century even had a specialized implement for removing marrow from a bone: a marrow scoop (or spoon), often of silver, with a long, thin bowl. Bone marrow’s popularity as a food is now relatively limited in the western world, but it remains in use in some gourmet restaurants and is popular among food enthusiasts.

Bone marrow brings a wealth of health benefits to the table. There are two types of bone marrow: yellow and red. Yellow bone marrow is located in the hollow cavities of the long bones. It is usually found at the center, surrounded by red bone marrow. Red marrow contains more nutrients than yellow marrow. But both contain many essential nutrients that boost the immune system (zinc and vitamin A), promote heart health (Omega-3 Fatty Acids and collagen), enhance skin health (collagen), support digestive well-being (because the gelatin in bone marrow has soothing properties) and support joint health (collagen). Bone marrow can even give you an energy boost: high in vitamin content and healthy fats, it provides a steady source of energy throughout the day.

This information may be of interest to cannibals!

Besides the above, collagen is especially important because, (according to WebMD) it also:

  • Helps your blood clot
  • Helps replace dead skin cells
  • Creates a protective cover for your organs
  • Allows new skin cells to grow

While bone marrow offers many benefits, it’s essential to be mindful of its source.  If it’s from healthy, well-raised animals, the risks are minimal. However, bone marrow from animals treated with antibiotics or hormones poses potential health risks.  Always opt for high-quality, grass-fed sources to ensure the best nutritional value.

Eating Bones and Marrow Around the World

International cuisine is rife with recipes using bone marrow:

Nalli Nihari
  • Vietnam: the soup base for the national staple dish, phở.
  • Philippines: the soup bulalo, made primarily of beef stock and marrow bones, seasoned with vegetables and boiled meat. Kansi, or sinigang na bulalo, is a sour variation of bulalo flavored with jackfruit.
  • Indonesia: bone marrow (sumsum) is especially popular in Minangkabau cuisine. Cooks often prepare sumsum as soup or as gulai (a curry-like dish).
  • India and Pakistan: slow-cooked marrow is the core ingredient in the dish nalli nihari.
  • China: pig tibia (with one or both ends of the tibia chopped off) make slow-cooked soup. Diners scoop out the marrow with chopsticks or suck it out with a drinking straw.
  • Hungary: tibia, chopped into 10–15 cm pieces, is a main ingredient in húsleves beef soup. Cooks cover the ends with salt to prevent the marrow from leaking from the bone while cooking. Diners often spread the marrow on toast.
  • Germany: thick slices of whole beef shank with bone and marrow, available in grocery stores, supermarkets, and butcher shops. Cooks use markklöβchen marrow balls in beef soups or beef in horseradish cream sauce.
  • Italy: ossobuco (braised veal shanks); cross-cut shanks served bone-in, with the marrow still inside the bone.
  • French: pot-au-feu, a traditional dish of cooked bone marrow on toasted bread, sprinkled with coarse sea salt.
  • Iran: lamb shanks are usually broken before cooking to allow diners to suck out and eat the marrow when the dish is served. Many South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines have similar dishes.
  • Native Alaskans: the bone marrow eaten here is of caribou and moose.
  • Kathmandu, Nepal: a buffalo leaf tripe bag stuffed with bone marrow (Sapu Mhichā) served during special occasions. Diners eat the entire boiled, fried bag.
  • United States: pemmican (which I think of as the Native American version of jerky).

Bone Meal/Bonemeal

eating bones bonemeal

Historically, people have used bone meal as a human calcium supplement. Research has shown that calcium and lead in their ionic forms (Ca 2+ , Pb 2+) have similar atomic structures and so create a potential for accumulation of lead in bones, sometimes leading to death.

An accumulation of lead in the human body causes lead poisoning (plumbism, saturnism). Researchers believe lead poisoning is behind 0.6% of the world’s disease burden. Symptoms of lead poisoning include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, numbness and/or tingling in the hands and feet. In the 1970s, the EPA developed more stringent importation rules for bone meal.

Many farmers still use bone meal, and a variety of other meals, as a dietary/mineral supplement for livestock. However, the improper use of bone and meat meal products in animal nutrition can contribute to the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known in cattle as Mad Cow Disease. Proper heat control can reduce salmonella contaminants.

Bone Broth

If you research bone broth online, you will find claims such as, “Bone broth is the ultimate solution to holistic health. Learn more about the reasons why you should incorporate bone broth into your daily routine. Collagen-Rich. High Protein. No Preservatives.”

Or, “Bone Broth Protein is a nourishing, concentrated bone broth that is 3x as potent* as homemade broth and makes it easy to get healthy gut and joint support. Beauty, Joint Support, Gut Support.”

The current popularity of bone broth is sometimes attributed to celebrity and other popular online influencers.

What’s the real scoop? Who better to ask than scientists? In April of 2025, the Feds published a review of relevant research by Ayah Matar, Nada Abdelnaem, and Michael Camilleri.

“Bone broth is a traditional nutrient revered by different people from ancient times to the modern era as a remedy for various illnesses. This review investigates the nutritional components of bone broth…

“Through comprehensive reviews of animal and human studies, this research highlights that bone broth includes amino acids (glutamine, glycine, proline, histidine, arginine), minerals (Ca, P, K, Mg, Zn) that are beneficial…

“The benefits documented for components in bone broth support the enhancement of gut health, alleviate inflammation in the intestinal barrier, improve intestinal barrier function in health and disease states, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease, as well as enhancing nutrient absorption. Bone broth offers a nutrient-dense option for enhancing overall health and may offer an alternative to dietary supplements with claims for enhanced gut health. We aim to foster interest in and provide evidence to substantiate claims for bone broth as a potential remedy, particularly for maintaining remission in conditions like IBD [inflammatory bowel disease] and possibly functional diarrhea and to encourage further research.”

Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease by Matar, et al.

In short, it’s a great source of nutrition. But is there a down side?

Dangers of Eating Bones

According to medicinenet.com, bone broth, if not prepared with standard manufacturing protocols, may contain heavy metals and harsh chemicals that can harm the body.

  • Lead is a heavy metal that may settle on vegetables and plants grown on lead-contaminated soil. Cattle may graze on such contaminated vegetables or plants. Therefore, there is a danger of lead contamination in several varieties of bone broth, as well as a risk of lead poisoning. Lead build-up in the bones may leach into the bone broth.
  • According to some studies, bone broth may be high in glutamate, which may cause adverse effects such as anxiety, restlessness, low energy, mental exhaustion, sleeplessness, and concentration problems, although there is no scientific evidence to prove this.

Other potential side effects:

  • Stomach upset
  • Increased bowel movements
  • Inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS) flare-ups
  • Bloating
  • Constipation
  • Nausea

Gelatin

Gelatin desserts from  Isabella Beeton‘s Book of Household Management, 1861

Surprise! (Or maybe not.) Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99% protein, tasteless and odorless. Gelatin was around as far back as the Middle Ages. Because it was hard to make, it was reserved for the wealthy.

Though making gelatin is still a complicated endeavor, modern industry has streamlined the process. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making gelatin from cattle bones is a 20-week process: bone crushing, cooking, spinning in a centrifuge, drying, degreasing, treating with a weak hydrochloric acid solution, several water washes, treatment with a lime slurry to remove everything that isn’t collagen, more washing, filtering, neutralizing the pH, sterilizing, cooling, and hot air drying.

Who created this process anyway?

Besides candy and supplements in gummy form, gelatin stabilizes, thickens, and adds texture to a wide variety of foods.

Fun (non-food) fact: Gelatin has been used in photography from early daguerreotypes to modern silver film.

How Bones Help Us Eat

  • Eating utensils: No doubt our long-ago ancestors made them, but today you can buy bone place settings (knife, fork, and two-sizes of spoons), as well as bone spoon/fork serving utensils and miscellaneous bone spoons in various shapes and sizes. Bone handle flatware is more common now.
  • Bone china: Unlike porcelain, which contains only minerals, bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s. For a long time, virtually all bone china was made there. Historians generally recognize Josiah Spode I as the one who standardized bone china production. The Spode family’s business—Spode—is still making bone china. Today, bone china is made around the world by companies such as Lennox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents since 1918.

Bottom Line: From ancient times to today, bones have nourished people, often with the aid of bone eating utensils.

BONE SERIES: MUSIC

Posted on by vlaw759

In October, I think of bones. And what uses might bones have besides holding up human and animal bodies? This week’s blog is the first of my October bone series.

Wind Chimes

Archeological evidence of wind chimes dates back almost 5000 years. They were first used in Asian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian civilizations. In South East Asia, historians have found remains of wind chimes made from bone, wood, bamboo, shells, jade, and bronze in about 3000 BCE. Ancient peoples may have thought chimes warded off evil spirits. A more practical use in Indonesia was to scare birds from crops.

Wind chimes at Chandigarh

Different cultures attribute unique meanings to wind chimes:

Today, you can still buy bone wind chimes, for example, on Etsy at prices ranging from $30 to $300.

Musical Rasps (Omichicahuaztli)

Bone music from the omichicahuaztli
Close-up of the skull resonator, femur rasp and bone implement which Castañeda & Mendoza suggest is a shoulder-blade, from the Codex Vindobonensis 

The musical rasp originated in Mesoamerica. It consists of a dried, striated deer bone or human femur that is scraped by a smaller bone to produce doleful sounds for the accompaniment of funeral dirges. Musicians sometimes held them above a resonating chamber, such as a conch shell or a skull, to amplify the sound. Amazing, what people will do to make music!

Some might quibble over calling it music. According to anthropologist Walter Krickeberg, Nahuatl people may have restricted funeral ceremonies to a sung dirge and the bone music of the omichicahuaztli, which he argues does not qualify as music.

What is not in dispute is the use of these instruments prior to the Spanish invasion.

“Several commentators have noted that instruments similar to the omichicahuaztli have continued to be used in modern times amongst the indigenous peoples of NW Mexico and SW United States, such as the Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Huichol, Pima, Hopi…), in some cases as magic instruments for bringing success in hunting, in others as medicinal tools used by shamans to speed a person’s recovery from illness.”

Ian Mursell, MexicoLore

Flutes

Flutes, made of bone and ivory, represent the earliest known musical instruments, clear evidence of prehistoric music. Archaeologists have discovered several such flutes in caves in Germany, dating to the European Upper Paleolithic, products of the Aurignacian culture.

This Aurignacian flute began life as the radius bone of a vulture. Between 35,000 and 43,000 years ago, a craftsman carved five finger holes into the hollow bone, allowing people to make music.

The vulture bone flute was not alone in Hoel Fels Cave. Specifically, archaeologists have also found two flutes made of mute swan bone and one made of wooly mammoth ivory.

Flutes made of bone, horn, ivory, etc. are available today online.

Bones

bone music by William Sidney Mount
The Bones Player by William Sidney Mount, c. 1857

Mostly made of wood today, in their most basic form, bones are sections of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow—between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with flicks of their wrists. Experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds. You may have heard bones without realizing it.

In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which became famous after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.

The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.

Fun fact: Don’t confuse playing the bones with Bones playing! Nah’Shon Lee “Bones” Hyland, a former star of the VCU basketball team, plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves!

Jawbone (Quijada, Charrasca)

The jawbone as a musical instrument originated in Africa. It’s usually the jawbone of a zebra—or donkey, horse, mule, or cow—stripped of all flesh and dried to make the teeth so loose that they rattle around in their sockets. The jawbone came to the Americas along with the slave trade and was historically used in early American minstrel shows.

But it’s more than a simple rattle — players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing wood across its teeth. Suz Slezak demonstrates several of these techniques here. Musicians use the jawbone throughout most of Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Cuba.

Fun fact: Martin B. Cohen designed the vibraslap to sound exactly like actual jawbones but with sturdier materials. He patented his design in 1969.

Bone Guitar

Artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar. As far as I know, no such instruments are available for sale!

Bottom Line: Your skeleton does more than hold up your body. Human ingenuity has led people to create bone music!

ATHLETIC BONES

Posted on by vlaw759

I can’t help it: every October my thoughts turn to bones. Bones—especially skulls and skeletons—are sort of my thing. Athletics, not so much.

Still, I have it on the best authority—an authority, anyway—that October is the best month for sports, too. Sammy Sucu (bleacherreport.com) ranks October #1 for sports fans.

Australian Rules Football, where kicking a rival player in the head may be perfectly acceptable
  1. World Series and MLB playoffs
  2. NBA and NHL seasons begin
  3. NFL is in full swing
  4. College basketball begins
  5. College football rivalry matches
  6. Soccer and their rivalry matches

Clearly, this is a biased list. There are roughly 200 sports that are internationally recognized, and besides those listed above, dozens of them are played in October: ice skating, rugby, weight lifting, cricket, badminton/table tennis, sailing, tennis, beach volleyball, chess, karate, golf, various motor sports, swimming, field hockey, skiing, and gymnastics, among others. Plus, October is National Roller Skating Month!

Put them together, and October might also be the month with the most broken bones. 

Most Breakable Sports—Where Broken Bones are Common

Bones that are most commonly fractured during sports are in the wrist, hand, ankle, foot, and collarbone. (FYI, in talking about bones, a break is the same as a fracture.)

Types of Fractures

Stress fractures are most commonly seen in athletes whose sports require repetitive movements such as marathon runners.  I know a woman who developed stress fractures in her ankle while training for a marathon but decided to run anyway. She ran 26.2 miles on a fractured ankle, in a tremendous amount of pain.

Inline skating had the greatest risk for impact fractures. This is according to one study across various sports (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7040946/).  

A fracture occurred in 20.6% of the emergency department visits for sports-related injuries.

Most of the fractures occurred in football players (22.5%).

The OR (odds ratios) for fracture was highest for inline skating (OR, 6.03), males (OR, 1.21), Asians, whites, and Amerindians (OR, 1.46, 1.25, and 1.18, respectively), and those older than 84 years (OR, 4.77).

Fractures are most common in contact sports such as basketball, rugby, and football.  The most commonly fractured bones in contact sports are the hands, wrist, collarbone, ankle, feet, and the long bones of the lower extremities.  Overall, contact sport athletes have a high risk of fractures in ankles and feet because they get into vulnerable positions while playing. 

Among High School athletes, the highest rate of fractures was in football (4.61 per 10 000 athlete exposures) and the lowest in volleyball (0.52). Boys were more likely than girls to sustain fractures in basketball and soccer.

Most fractures heal in 6-8 weeks, but this varies tremendously from bone to bone and in each person. Hand and wrist fractures often heal in 4-6 weeks whereas a tibia fracture may take 20 weeks or more.

But broken bones aren’t the biggest risk.  I’m surprised that the top 7 most frequent sports injuries seldom involve bone fractures.

  1. Knee Injury. About 55% of sports injuries occur in the knee.
  2. ACL Tear. Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is responsible for connecting your thigh to your shinbone at your knee.
  3. Tennis or Golf Elbow
  4. Shin Splints
  5. Groin Pull
  6. Sciatica
  7. Hamstring Strain

Safest Sports—Where Broken Bones are Rare

Common hand injury from repetitive golf swings

1. Swimming  It’s easy on the joints and can be an aid in recovery after an injury as well as being the safest sport in America.

2. Cheerleading Occasional falls may cause broken bones, especially during practice new routines.

3. Golf Anytime players are not required to physically touch one another will more than likely make for a safer sport. Golf injuries most often occur from the repetitive action of swinging the golf club.

4. Track and Field  The most common types of injuries are running injuries such as ankle arthritis, sprains in the knees, shin splints and knee injuries. 

5. Baseball Also not a contact sport, the most common injury is rotator cuff tears, especially for pitchers.  Other injuries include the ulnar collateral ligament, knee injuries, and muscle sprains. Additional possible injuries include a pitched ball hitting a batter’s face and concussions from falls while fielders go for a catch.  

FYI, Top 10 broken bones overall (not just athletes)

  1. Clavicle
  2. Arm
  3. Wrist
  4. Hip
  5. Ankle
  6. Foot
  7. Toe
  8. Hand
  9. Finger
  10. Leg.

Not all fractures get a cast! A clavicle, for example. Also a coccyx. 

Sports That Help Prevent Broken Bones

Athletes participating in weightbearing sports have an approximately 10% higher Bone Mineral Density than nonathletes, and athletes in high-impact sports have a higher BMD compared with medium- or low-impact sports.

Investigators found that soccer and gymnastics participants have the highest bone density in most body segments and the lowest fat mass, while swimming had the lowest bone mineral density at most skeletal sites.

Boxing improves bone mineral density. The forces through the hands and arms stimulate bones to mineralize and strengthen, ultimately reducing the risk of developing osteopenia or osteoporosis and potentially even reversing the conditions in some cases.

Osteoporosis is a disorder characterized by low bone density and impaired bone strength, an important risk factor for fracture.  Low bone mass poses a particular challenge for athletes because it predisposes to stress-related bone injuries and increases the risk of osteoporosis and insufficiency fractures with aging.

My Personal Bone Break Stories 

1) In second grade I climbed to the top of the swing set and fell, breaking my left arm. That was pretty cool, getting attention, signatures, and artwork on the cast.

Sacral Insufficiency Fracture

2) The first time I tried downhill skiing, I sat down on the edge of my ski and I broke my tailbone. The local ski injury doctor (!) said I should sit on a rubber donut and then he gave me a prescription for pain pills that I could refill ten times. (This was decades ago, of course.) When I asked whether there was nothing he could actually do about it, he said that if still had trouble — if I still had difficulty riding in a car — a year or so down the line, a doctor could surgically remove it.  

(Last year, I posted a blog about human bones/skeletons in general and another about the all-important spine. Still good info there.)

Bottom line: Choose your activities carefully and take care of your bones.

Without Books, TV Would Be Barren

Posted on by vlaw759

top ten tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, they provide a prompt for bloggers. Today’s prompt is TV-themed.

 

We tend to think of TV as something totally separate from literature. Not so! If you’ve enjoyed any of the following on TV, consider reading the books they are based on.

 

 

[Photo credit: Goodreads]
Poldark, based on the Poldark Saga books of Winston Graham

 

boardwalk empire
[Photo credit: Goodreads]
Outlander, based on the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

 

diana gabaldon outlander
[Photo credit: Tripping Over Books]
Pride and Prejudice and other series based on novels of Jane Austen

 

masters of sex
[Photo credit: Amazon]
Sherlock and Elementary based on the Sherlock Holmes books and stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Bones based on Deja Dead and others in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs

 

kathy reichs deja dead
[Photo credit: Goodreads]
Game of Thrones based on A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.

 

 

Here’s a thought: Whatever your TV passion, check it online for possible roots in books. You might find an author you love!