Orthopaedic Surgery/Biomechanics/General Concepts

The various components of the musculo-skeletal apparatus interact in a coordinated fashion. We have evolved the highly adaptive ability for upright movement through our environment freeing the upper extremities to engage in independent activities that advance the agenda of the organism;  first and foremost to promote our own survival or the survival of our immediate family. The upper limbs through the anatomic features of the shoulder,elbow, forearm, wrist and hand have evolved for tool use and seemingly toward the efficient use of hand held projectiles, to affect defense and to obtain food.

The axial skeleton and core muscle groups provide protection to our vital energy processing viscera and the avenues of communication and nutrient distribution that are represented by our,nervous, endocrine and vascular systems. The central muscle groups anchored to the axial skeleton affect a coordination of the whole by  overcoming momentum and enabling the fluid transfer of potentional energy to kinetic energy via the levers of our extremities in a fashion enabling force speed and accuracy in our activities. The resultant process can be beautiful, awe inspiring or comical.

Our skeletal adaptation to bipedal locomotion was accompanied by a bowl shaped pelvis with resultant narrowing of the pelvic outlet. This in association with enlarging brain size necessitated parturition at a relatively immature state of development to enable the passage of the fetal skull through the birth canal. A protracted post natal dependency would logically have required mating humans to remain mutually supporting to enable division of labor to support the dependant newborn. Thus it seems our biomechanical characteristics lead to social implications from the beginning of our existence as a species.