SCIENTISTS reckon they’ve worked out how the shape of your skeleton could impact your health.
If you’ve got a long torso for your height, for example, you’re more likely to suffer from back pain.
Do you have wide hips? You’ve got a higher chance of battling osteoporosis.
And people with particularly long thigh bones are at increased risk of knee pain, arthritis and general knee problems.
That’s all according to a new study by the University of Texas.
Eucharist Kun, a biochemistry researcher and lead author of the paper, said: “These disorders develop from biomechanical stresses on the joints over a lifetime.
“Skeletal proportions affect everything from our gait to how we sit, and it makes sense that they are risk factors in these disorders.”
Researchers studied Biobank data for more than 30,000 people aged 40 to 80.
Using artificial intelligence, they analysed full-body X-rays and the results of genetic testing.
They found 145 regions associated with genes that regulate skeletal development, only a few of which were already known.
As well as a long torso being a potential predictor of back pain, wide hips of osteoporosis and lengthy femurs of arthritis, the team also discovered the tibia, or shin bone, was linked to knee trouble.
There was also a correlation between a higher knee joint and hip and knee osteoarthritis.
Overall, all skeletal proportions were highly heritable – between 30 to 50 per cent.
It means genetics plays a major role in how you might turn out – and the health problems you might face down the line.
The milestone study was published in the journal Science.
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