body mass estimation from the human skeleton - ncjrs .body mass estimation from the human skeleton

The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Body Mass Estimation from the Human Skeleton Author: Megan K. Moore Document No.: 227932

Date Received: August 2009 Award Number: 2007-DN-BX-0013 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies.

Opinions or points of view expressed are those

of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S.

Department of Justice.

Body Mass Estimation from the Human Skeleton

A Dissertation Presented for

the Doctor of Philosophy

Degree

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Megan K. Moore

May 2008

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dedication

To my dear Papa, for all you have been and all you have done for me. I miss you.

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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Copyright 2008 by Megan K. Moore

All rights reserved.

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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dissertation Abstract

The established methods for estimating average body mass from the skeleton are

of two types: biomechanical and morphometric. Neither technique currently addresses

the extremes of body mass (e.g. emaciation or obesity). The goal of this research is to

explore several different biomechanical methods, using data collected from high

resolution computed tomographic scans and macroscopic analysis of 150 known modern

individuals from the William M. Bass Donated Skeleton Collection at the University of

Tennessee, Knoxville. This research will review the biomechanics of human gait and the

biomechanical accommodations that occur with increased obesity and load bearing. The

analysis will include cross-sectional geometry of the human femur at five locations along

the diaphysis, bone mineral density scans of the proximal femur and a macroscopic

evaluation of degenerative changes of the articulations of the spine, hip, knee and foot.

The best single indicator of body mass for both males and females is the cross-sectional

area of the proximal femur and BMD. By using pathologies combined, an accuracy rate

of 87% for predicting obesity was achieved using a classification tree with sexes pooled.

Furthermore, severe obesity has such a profound effect on the human skeleton as to leave

a suite of traits affecting the load bearing elements of the lower limb and vertebral

column.

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This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Acknowledgements

This research could not have been completed without the financial support and

expertise of the Biomedical Engineers of the University of Tennessee. I am especially

indebted to Dr. Mohamed Mahfouz for taking me under his wing and exposing me to new

and innovative methods in order to achieve my anthropological goals. The extensive

knowledge and constructive criticism from my advisor Dr. Lyle Konigsberg greatly

improved the quality of my scholarship. The open door policy and many hours of

brainstorming with Dr. Richard Jantz are responsible for the topic of this dissertation. I

am indebted to Dr. Kent Hutson of the UT Medical Center for facilitating the CT scans

and advising me on technical procedures. Dr. Dixie Thompson of the Department of

Exercise, Sport and Leisure Studies at UT gave up a lot of free time to collaborate on

bone density scans. I would like to thank Dr. Lee Meadows Jantz for her help and

support and for giving me permission to use the William M. Bass Donated Collection.

The Biomedical Engineering students provided their technical expertise, without which,

this work could not have been completed. Thank you Emam ElHak Ali Abd ElFatah,

Brandon Merkl, Mike Kuhn and Katherine Kesler. A special thanks to all of the

Anthropology and Engineering volunteers who gave up their Saturdays or Sundays to

help up with the scanning. The scanning was extremely physically and mentally

demanding, and they worked for hours on end, without a single complaint. I thank Jenn

Lilly, Donna McCarthy, Amanda Allbright, Emily Loucks, Rebecca Wilson, Elizabeth

DiGangi, Anne Kroman, Lorena Villao, Katie King, Brian Pope, Genevieve Ritchie, Kate

Driscoll, Courtney Eleazer, Kanchana Jagannathan and of course my ever obliging CT

Tech, Todd Malone. Thanks to my wonderful friends for the patience and moral support,

v

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

especially during the final most stressful stages. Thank you: Dr. Anne Kroman, Dr. Liz

DiGangi, Dr. Katy Weisensee, Dr. Graciela Cabana, Emily Hammerl, Giovanna Vidoli,

Heather Worne, and Barbara Graham. This would not have been completed without my

family. I love you all dearly: Monique, Mom, Dad, Michael, Dora, Nonnie, Grandma,

Grandpa and my wonderfully supportive partner John Nipper. This research was

partially supported by a grant from Zimmer Orthopaedics. The writing of this

dissertation was supported by Award No. 2007- DN-BX-0013 awarded by the National

Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The

opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are

those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.

vi

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 1

Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1

Literature Review............................................................................................................ 2

Research Design and Methods........................................................................................ 9

Implications for policy and practice ............................................................................. 11

Chapter 2. BODY MASS ESTIMATION ........................................................................ 13

Morphometric Methods ................................................................................................ 14

Biomechanical Methods................................................................................................ 14

Engineering Beam Theory ............................................................................................ 19

Biomechanics of Obesity .............................................................................................. 20

Metabolic Processes of Bone Synthesis and Resorption .............................................. 27

Pathologies.................................................................................................................... 29

Osteoarthritis................................................................................................................. 29

Risk Factors for Osteoarthritis ...................................................................................... 31

Heel Spurs..................................................................................................................... 33

DISH ............................................................................................................................. 35

Osteoporosis.................................................................................................................. 37

Risk Factors for Osteoporosis....................................................................................... 39

Chapter 3. MATERIALS...............................................