Your Shoulder Blades Tell How Old You’ll Be (May, 1938)
Source: Mechanics And Handicraft ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1938
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Your Shoulder Blades Tell How Old You’ll Be
DR. WILLIAM WASHINGTON GRAVES, medical scientist of the University of St. Louis, has made the unique discovery that the scapulae or shoulder-blades tell whether man is potentially healthy, longer lived and more disease resistant than his fellow-man. Dr. Graves has come to the conclusion that persons having the convex-type of shoulder blades have a better chance in life than those who have straight or concave scapulae. Of course, the doctor suggests that due consideration be given to the ever present variables of inheritance and environment. It has been pointed out that the higher the grade of the school or university which pupils attend, the larger the number of convex-type shoulder blades; also, the older the age group the greater is the percentage of this type of blade. Dr. Graves also points out that those with a mixed combination of blade fare more poorly in life than the ones who have both blades either convex or concave. The illustration shows some mixed blades.
Of course, at this time they hadn’t quite figured out that bones change in shape as a person ages, and that the curve of the scapula actually increases with age.
Anthropologists use the scapula shape along with the angle of the jaw (among other measurements) to estimate the age at death for unidentified deceased who are discovered as skeletal remains. It’s an especially important tool for forensic anthropologists since many of the older methods (such as judging by the amount of arthritis) are wildly unreliable - an extremely thin woman who exercises many hours a day to keep herself thin will have on average the same amount of arthritis of the hip as an obese woman 30 years older.
Comment by Blurgle — September 26, 2007 @ 6:40 am
But the important question is, which shape scapula makes a better sailboat?
http://blog.modernmechanix.com.....any-lands/
Comment by Stannous — September 26, 2007 @ 7:37 am
True!
Comment by Blurgle — September 26, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
Aw, Blurgle, I was ready to have my wife check my shoulder blades…guess there’s no need.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — September 26, 2007 @ 8:44 pm