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Bones, Muscles, and Joints, The (7/8)

This is also part of this series: Don't Die Young (8)

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Subjects: Anatomy, Health Issues, Human Body, Medicine, Nutrition, Science

Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No

Running Time: 30 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No

Copyright Date: 2008
Available in French: No

The hidden structure of our bodies (our bones, muscles and joints) account for more than half of all reported pain. Over time, our skeletons suffer the effects of age and misuse, encouraging everything from arthritis and slipped discs to dowager’s hump. Such conditions are commonplace and have plagued us throughout recorded history. As an an experienced physical anthropologist (advisor to archaeologists) as well as medical doctor and expert in anatomy, Dr Alice has a collection of interesting ancient bones to explain the stresses the human skeleton has always experienced.

We also meet Dawn Connor, a young mother who has recently returned to work part-time as a hospital nurse in Accident & Emergency in Bristol. Childbirth, pregnancy and her job have all placed a strain on her back and she now suffers from lower back pain. She wants to discover what she can do to look after herself and, along the way, also finds out that she can also do a lot now to protect her toddler, Rosie, from back problems in later life.

Dawn helps Dr Alice put together a 1,300-year-old skeleton, finds out about the benefits of physical exercise for her muscles and bone density, and learns of the importance of good diet for both herself and her daughter to protect against osteoporosis or brittle bones.

Our bones, as well as our muscles can change shape if we change the way we use them. Using her trademark dissection of animal parts, Dr Alice shows what a ‘slipped disc’ actually looks like and what happens to a joint when it is damaged by osteoarthritis.

Dr Alice meets Stuart Sharp, an amateur pilot who is about to have a pioneering hip-resurfacing operation to deal with his arthritic hip. To prove it is not a new condition, she shows him a hip bone from a Roman soldier, who also had osteoarthritis.

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