Paleopathology in perspective : bone health and disease through time / Elizabeth Weiss.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Introduction to Bone Research -- Bone Biology -- Temporal Changes in Human Lifestyle -- Evidence of Change : Skeletal Samples and Clinical Databases -- 2. Growth Patterns -- The Human Growth Pattern -- Long Bone Growth -- Osteological Indicators of Growth -- Conclusion -- 3. Adult Bone Health -- Osteomalacia -- Osteoporosis and Osteopenia -- Conclusions -- 4. Childhood Injuries -- Detecting Childhood Trauma -- Patterns of Childhood Trauma : Falls, Abuse, Sport -- Conclusion -- 5. Back Pains -- Vertebral Anatomy of a Biped -- Back Pain Demographics -- Vertebral Pathology Detection -- Schmorl's Nodes -- Spondylolsis and Spondylolisthesis -- Treatments -- Conclulsions -- 6. Arthritis -- Erosive Arthritis -- Osteoarthritis : Diagnosis and Risk Factors -- Osteoporosis and Other Degenerative Diseases -- Joint Pain Treatment -- Conclusions -- 7. Oral Health Tooth Anatomy and Examinations -- Tooth Wear : Attrition, Abrasion, and Erosion -- Tooth Decay -- Periodontal Disease -- Tooth Loss -- Malocclusion -- Conclusions -- 8. Infectious Diseases -- General Bone Infections -- Parasite-Induced Anemia -- Trepomenal Diseases -- Mycobacterial Disease -- Conclusions -- 9. Congenital Defects -- Birth Defects Diagnostics -- Temporal Changes in Birth Defects -- Conclusions -- 10. The next Fifty Years? -- Older Populations -- Genetic and Medical Advances -- Obesity -- Urbanization -- Food Fortification -- Increasing Paternal Age -- Return of Past Diseases -- Conclusions.

Our bones can reveal fascinating information about how we have lived, from the food we have eaten to our levels of activity and the infections and injuries we have suffered. Elizabeth Weiss introduces readers to how lifestyle—in complex interaction with biology, genes, and environment—affects health in this distinctive tour of human osteology, past and present. Centering on health issues that have arisen in the last fifty to sixty years rather than thousands of years ago, Paleopathology in Perspective is organized around particular bone traits such as growth patterns, back pains, infections, and oral health. Each chapter explains one category of traits and reviews data drawn from both ancient and more contemporary populations to explore how global trait trends have changed over time. Weiss also considers the likely causes of these changes—for example, the growth of obesity, increased longevity, and greater intensity of childhood sports. Taking a long view of bones, as Weiss clearly demonstrates, provides clues not just about how ancient humans once lived, but also how biology and behavior, lifestyle and health, remain intrinsically linked.