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The elongation of the human cervical vertebral column
Author(s) -
Roche A. F.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330360210
Subject(s) - elongation , vertebral body , anatomy , vertebral column , growth spurt , radiography , cervical spine , body height , cervical vertebrae , medicine , intervertebral disc , orthodontics , body weight , materials science , surgery , composite material , ultimate tensile strength
Cervical vertebral elongation has been studied using serial cephalometric radiographs of 32 children examined regularly from 0.25 to 17 years. Mean vertebral body heights increased rapidly to about 2.5 years and then decelerated except for a spurt at about the age of peak height velocity. There were only small sex differences in vertebral body elongation to 12 years. From then to 15 years, the vertebral body heights in the girls exceeded those in the boys; later this sex difference was reversed. There was no pubertal spurt in disc elongation. The correlation coefficients were negative between vertebral body heights and the heights of adjoining intervertebral discs, e.g., body C3 and disc C3–4, but those between body heights or between disc heights were positive. The heights of adjacent cervical vertebral bodies were correlated more highly than the heights of non‐adjacent bodies. There was a similar pattern of differences between correlation coefficients for the heights of adjacent and non‐adjacent intervertebral discs.