joyancejames

Tag: #anatomy

  • The Hip-py Marriage

    Recently I heard a valentine’s day special interview where an orthopedic surgeon was asked if he could compare his marriage to a bone, which would it be, without batting an eye he replied, the femur. The femur/ thigh bone was the reply because that’s the strongest/largest bone in the body. When I first heard the response, I thought to myself that I too would liken marriage to the same bone. But the more I reflected on this, I realized a greater truth.

    Holding a Cadaveric hip bone, view from the side and from the front.

    Now if I were to liken marriage to a bone then it would be the hip bone. The hip bone is a composite of 3 bones ilium, ischium and pubis which finally fuse after adolescence to make the hip bone. Similarly, the covenant -marriage is a union of not only the husband and the wife but both of them as one in God who unites them.

    Another wonderful thing about the hip bone is that all three bones unite at the acetabulum (the cup of the hip joint), they come together in a ‘T’ shaped “triradiate cartilage”. This cartilaginous union of the bones allow the hip and pelvis to grow in size as the child grows and finally fuse once the child stops growing (after adolescence).

    The 3 bones uniting in the ‘T’ shaped cartilage. https://teachmeanatomy.info/pelvis/bones/hip-bone/

    The covenant of marriage unites the husband and the wife with Jesus at the cross (T). Just like these bones become one at adolescence, the man & wife become one after marriage. 

    Genesis 2:24 (AMPC). Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Matt. 19:5; I Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31-33.]

    https://bible.com/bible/8/gen.2.24.AMPC

    Just as the hip is what connects the spine to the lower limbs, the united one flesh (after marriage) should link the heaven (vertical) and earth (horizontal). 

    The hip is also illustrates the Trinity. The 3 bones united to make one hip/pelvis, God the Father, Yeshua the Son and Holy Spirit are 3 distinct personalites but One God. 

    Deuteronomy 6:4 (AMPC). Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord].

    https://bible.com/bible/8/deu.6.4.AMPC

    May the oneness of the Trinity inspire our marriages to pursue oneness to become as strong and purposeful as the hip.

    God bless.🤗

  • What The Thigh Bone Taught Me!

    Femur is latin for thigh and os femoris is thigh bone. In current medical terminology the thigh bone is referred to as femur. It is the largest bone in the human body, as long as 1/4th of the standing height!

    Here I’ll attempt to take you through some unique features of femur and what it teaches us. 

    1. As the largest bone in the body, it is also the strongest. It can take upto 30x the body weight before fracturing. 

    The maximum stress it can tolerate in compression is 205MPa (mega pascals) while a tensile force (in order to stretch/bend) of 135 MPa can be tolerated by the femur. (College of Engineering; University of Wisconsin). 

    2. The thigh bone is not uniform in structure, the ends are spongy bone whereas the middle part is cortical, dense part. The ends of the femur are areas with bone marrow and involved in blood cell formation, more significantly in children. 

    3. Bone is one of the few tissues in human body that heals without scar (fibrosis). A fracture heals with bone tissue and after a few months it remodels to become normal bone again. 

    4. Although the length of femur stops growing in the teenage years but it’s micro-structure is constantly evolving. Bone is involved in metabolism, calcium and phosphorus keep getting deposited and reabsorbed from the bone; the bone mass and density changes according to multiple factors including age.

    Holding a Femur, for size comparision. Specimen courtesy: Anatomist wifey.

    The femur with its intricately marvellous structure and function is an unprecedented engineering marvel! Such strong, life giving (blood forming), self healing and constantly evolving structure can only point towards an intentional and intelligent Creator. 

    Psalms 139:14-15 TPT

    [14] I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord! [15] You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place;  carefully, skillfully you shaped me  from nothing to something.

    https://bible.com/bible/1849/psa.139.14-15.TPT

    At the foot of the cross as St. John stood and watched, he testified in John chapter 19 that the Roman soldiers when they came to Jesus they didn’t practise the ritual crurifragium (breaking of thigh/leg bone to hasten the death).  In his yesteryears St. John saw a vision of the rider on the white horse, whose title was the Word of God, quite fittingly he describes, 

    “On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.”

    Revelation 19:16 NLT

    https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.19.16.NLT

    There it is evident for all to see, for all eternity written on His thigh, His title as the ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. 

    The femur which means, strength, life and resilience for mankind now brings hope to the ailing humanity in the coming of the ‘King of kings & Lord of lords’.

    God bless you!

  • Hypertrophy

    Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary defines ‘hypertrophy’ as: excessive development of an organ or part
    specifically : increase in bulk (as by thickening of muscle fibers) without multiplication of parts.

    In case of skeletal muscles this (hypertrophy) is what happens in those who undertake strength training. Multiple cycles of repetitions – muscle contractions/ relaxations daily compounded over weeks and months leads to hypertrophied muscle.
    In the initial phase there is a lot of wear and tears (micro trauma) to the muscle causing soreness to un-accustomed muscle group but eventually this persistence leads to bulking up of the particular muscle group.

    Vierck, J et al. “Satellite cell regulation following myotrauma caused by resistance exercise.” Cell biology international vol. 24,5 (2000): 263-72. doi:10.1006/cbir.2000.0499

    Y’hoshua (Joshua) 1:8 CJB
    [8] Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.
    https://bible.com/bible/1275/jos.1.8.CJB

    The Hebrew word for meditate is hagah (הגה) which literally means to mutter/ to utter or speak. This day and night meditation by means of constant utterance and repetition is commonly found in the book of Psalms.
    Psalm 1:2 AMPC
    [2]  But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts,
    the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
    https://bible.com/bible/8/psa.1.2.AMPC

    The human brain is not a muscle to be hypertrophied but the constant repetition day after day brings about a change from the inside out. Saturation with God’s truth kills the weeds of doubts and fear. Verbal repetition strengths the neural pathways in the brain responsible for memory, especially long-term memory.

    Just as repetition cause muscles to hypertrophy and bulk up, become more resistant to injury & stress, repetition of God’s word causes our brains to form strong neural pathways to remind us constantly of His truth.
    I believe this form of meditation is what caused David the little boy to bulk up (not physically but spiritually) to the giant Goliath. He could operate from a place of Faith when all his countrymen cowered in fear.

    May God’s word be the object of our meditations as our minds bathe in the knowledge of His truth.

    God bless!

  • Stapes & Femur

    Although I’m a bone doctor, children’s bone doctor to be precise, I’m not qualified to treat all the 206 bones in the human body. Here I want to highlight the beauty and intricacy of the human body, hence the psalmist wrote, “I’m fearfully and wonderfully made”.

    Femur which is the largest and longest bone in the human body can be up to 48 cms long and can take upto 30 times the body weight. This in itself is an unparalleled engineering marvel. The orthopedic surgeons (such as I) commonly operate on this big bone.

    Stapes, the smallest bone which is stirrup shaped is inside the middle ear cavity (inside the skull). It’s just 2-3 mm in size and the ENT surgeons require either microscope or a magnifying loupe to operate on this small beauty. The stapes serves to relay the sound vibrations from the outside to be transmitted to the brain which in turn deciphers the sounds.

    The dichotomy between the largest and the smallest bones in the body in terms of structure and function is fascinating. While one can bear many times the weight of the body the other can vibrate discreetly to relay the sound signals to the brain.

    The God who made both the femur and the stapes is as much concerned about the minute and mundane as He is about the big things in our lives. Even the tiny and the inconspicuous details in our lives are woven into the grand picture of our lives. From our vantage point we may never fully comprehend the unraveling of divine plan and proposes for our lives. The Creator knows His creation best. It takes decades of learning to unravel even a fraction of what the good Lord made from dust.

    Psalms 139:13-14 NLT
    [13] You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. [14] Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

    https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.139.13-14.NLT

    God bless you!


    References
    1. openoregon.pressbooks.pub/bodyphysics/chapter/stress-and-strain-on-the-body/#footnote-843-2


    2. Àwengen, D. F.; Nishihara, S.; Kurokawa, H.; Goode, R. L. (April 1995). “Measurements of the stapes superstructure”. The Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology. 104 (4 Pt 1): 311–6.

    3.www.researchgate.net/publication/333521311/figure/fig1/AS:764798413332480@1559353559479/The-three-auditory-ossicles-From-left-to-right-the-stapes-malleus-and-incus.jpg

    https://anatomy.app/encyclopedia/femur
    Left – Right: Malleus, incus and stapes (smallest) [Dissected specimen courtesy Dr Shalom Philip MD]