Medieval English Social Inequality and Bone Health: What Lessons are There to be Learnt for the Living?

Abstract

With social and economic systems determining the structure and function of human groups come health repercussions that affect our longevity and quality of life. Consequently, skeletal disorders in the modern world are becoming increasingly problematic as populations experience ageing-driven changes in bone metabolism. Coupled with often poor quality nutrition and largely sedentary lifestyles, skeletal adaptation in contemporary populations is facing more challenges than ever before. As biological anthropologists attempt to understand the interwoven biological and cultural relationships influencing the ways in which we grow and adapt to our environments, the medical realm tackles bone fragility and fracture risk at a patient and society level. Human lifestyle as a research theme appears to unite bio-anthropological and medical queries into bone health. Show more