SEDGEFORD HISTORICAL  AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT

Weblog Week 3 - Human Remains

Ray Baldry

An adult male with a fracture of the right first rib.

Fracture of the first rib is an uncommon event. It is more frequent in young healthy men who have undergone an intense period of physical activity involving lifting and pulling or sports training using the head and neck (fatigue fracture).

The first rib is particularly thin at its mid point where the Scalenus anterior muscle is attached to help lift the ribcage during inhalation. Violent or repetitive stretching of this muscle (which originates from the lower neck vertebrae) by bending the neck away from the counter pull of the lifting arm, results in the bone snapping at this pivotal point behind the clavicle and between the subclavian neurovascular bundle.

In this example, the comminuted fracture ends are displaced and the bone has healed in a shortened position. The second rib beneath the fracture has a hyperostosis reaction (abnormal growth of bone) coinciding with the sharp point on the original fracture. This suggests an earlier larger displacement subsequently narrowed by further muscular action prior to complete bony union. This individual also shows signs of general extra right sided upper body development (enthesopathy).

In particular, the right upper arm muscle insertions into the forearm bones (Biceps brachii and Brachialis) are very robust. There is compression spondyloarthropathy (spinal joint disease) present in the 5^th cervical vertebral body of his neck which is within the origins of the Scalenus anterior muscle and all his lumbar vertebrae are also severely affected.

It is suggested by the displacement of this fracture and its position in the bone that this was the result of a particularly aggressive attempt to lift or pull a heavy object by a man in the course of his normally physical occupation. It may have been during the process of a period of intense activity such as harvest, land clearance or house building.

Observations and further research by Ray Baldry
July 2007

Right first and second rib superior view
Right 1st rib fracture superior view	Right 1st rib fracture exploded line view	Right 1st rib fracture reconstruction line