Bone Growth and Development

By:
Chris Clevenger
 Bones in the human body constantly change throughout the lifespan. Beginning at birth

most bones are actually cartilage. A process known as endochondral ossification happens in the

fetal stage of mammals’ lives where the cartilage is transformed into bone tissue. Beginning at

birth and continuing throughout puberty for most humans, the cartilage slowly loses its flexibility

and becomes more rigid bones. Bones go through three main stages of growth and development,

they are ossification, modeling, and remodeling.

The human skeleton has six primary functions; support, movement, protection, blood cell

production, storage and endocrine regulation. If we did not have ribs then our lungs would

collapse. The joints between the bones allows for a wide range of flexibility. In general the

more movement the joint has in it, the weaker it is. Take the hip joint in comparison to the

shoulder joint. The hip is more stable, stronger, and less flexible than the shoulder and therefore

is less likely to get injured. The skull protects the brain, the vertebrae protect the spine, and the

ribcage and sternum protect the major vital organs in the thorax. Red bone marrow that’s found

in the sternum, hip bones, and vertebrae are responsible for a process called hemopoesis; where

red blood cells are produced.

The cells that are responsible for the formation of bone cells are called osteoblasts. These

cells constantly lay down more minerals and add to the extracellular matrix of the bone. Its

opposite is a cell called osteoclast. These cells are responsible for dissolving the minerals and

breaking down the bone matrix. As a person grows throughout the lifespan these two types of

cells find some natural equilibrium. The more stress and strain someone puts on their body, the

more osteoblasts are recruited and the more bone is laid down. Likewise the less stress and

strain someone puts on their body the more osteoclast cells take over and reduce the amount of

bone. That’s why you always see the astronauts going onto the space shuttle but rarely see them
coming off. Without the stress of gravity, the osteoclasts in the body take up the excess calcium

in the bones making them more brittle.

The first level of bone growth occurs at the ends of the bone. This process is known as

Endochondral ossification. Within the process of ossification lie two primary steps. The first step

involves cartilage tissue that is added to the growth zones of the bone. Both of the zones are

located at the distal ends of the bone that is in the process of growing (Schoenau, 2004).

The second step in bone growth and development occurs in width. This process is also

known as bone modeling (Frost, 1990). This occurs when osteoclasts and osteoblasts sit on

opposite sides of a given piece of bone. The osteoblasts are typically located on the outer surface

and the osteoclasts are usually located in the inner surface. The osteoclasts usually remove less

bone tissue than is deposited by osteoblasts, thus modeling tends to lead to a net increase in the

amount of bone tissue (Frost, 1990).

The third and final step of bone growth and development occurs as a process called

remodeling. This occurs when bone tissue has been created either by endochondral ossification

or my modeling and it continues to be turned over in a process that is called remodeling (Frost,

1990). During remodeling, the bone growth goes through cycles of bone reabsorbing and

formation. This type of remodeling is done in groups and these groups of cells involved in this

process are name as the remodeling units or basic multicellular units.

In order to further understand these levels of bone growth and development, one must

venture into the beginnings of bone formation. Stages early in embryonic life begin with a

skeletal system called a “cartilage model”. Once the framework is created, ossification begins to

occur. During the embryonic developmental stages, two types of bone ossification take place.
One of them is called the primary ossification center and the second one is called the secondary

ossification center. The primary ossification center seems to occur at the midportions of the long

bones. The secondary ossification centers seem to come into play during the postnatal bone

growth. This secondary ossification is also know as the epiphyseal plate, growth plate, or

pressure epiphysis (Haywood, 2009).

Children grow more slowly during the years of middle childhood when compared to early

childhood or adolescence. Girls and boys have similar growth patterns; they appear thinner

because they grow taller. During the middle years, children become more skilled in controlling

their bodies. Their rate of physical growth slows temporarily, just long enough to give them time

to get comfortable with their bodies and an opportunity to practice their motor skills and increase

their coordination.

During the adolescent years, most children experience a rapid increase in height and

weight called a growth spurt. This spurt is approximately two years earlier in girls than in boys.

Most of the spurt in height is due to acceleration of trunk length rather than leg length. Leg

length reaches its peak first, and shoulder width last. This type of growth is called asynchrony,

and often results in clumsiness and misjudgments. Because of different rates of maturation,

some adolescents have an advantage in athleticism and attractiveness during this age group.

The peak years for speed and agility are between 18 and 30. Most Olympic athletes fall

between this age range, with exception of some events; eighteen is considered old for female

gymnasts, and most golfers peak around the age of 31. The physical growing slows and stops in

this range, so the ability of one is able to focus and fine tune it. Middle and late adulthood, the
bones and skeleton begin their degeneration until death. For some of the social elite, Human

Growth Hormone has become abused to substitute for an anti-aging potion.

Many factors affect bone growth and development throughout the lifespan. Lack

of blood supply, nutrients, and other environmental constraints can act as a toll in bone growth

and development. We can recall that girls in general seem to acquire a faster rate of maturation

than boys, however, boys seem to have stronger and more sturdier bones than girls (Haywood,

2009). Other factors may include sports. Children that participate in heavy training will be

affected and bone growth may stop. This can attribute why males might have stronger bones than

girls.

As the body ages, so does the skeletal system. The system itself changes and undergoes

various stages of remodeling throughout its lifetime. The youth experience bone growth at a high

rate and have little to no trouble during this time, however, adults seem to being a downward

process of this development. Instead of new bone being formed, bone is being broken down

quicker than new bone is formed, thus causing a gradual and steady decline among the older

population in regards to bone growth.

Some factors that have been studied and that have shown a difference in bone growth

through development include: certain hormone levels, dietary deficiencies, and decrease

exercise. Women are at higher risk of bone degeneration. It has been observed that the decrease

in the levels of estrogen in females leads to a higher loss of bon mass. This can be described

because estrogen hormones stimulate osteoblastic activity (Haywood, 2009). Another major

source of bone degeneration can be the lack of calcium intake. Along with this can also be a

shortage of vitamin intake.

 Studies have been done in order to see the affects that things such as vitamins and

calcium have on the human bone. A study that was done by Cumming in 1990, consisted of

women who were undergoing early stages of menopause. These women were administered a

calcium supplement and another control group was not. The differences that were noticed were

significant. Women that took the calcium supplement showed lower loss of bone mass when

compared to those that did not take the supplement (Haywood, 2009).

As people age, bone loss or other conditions become a problem. Most of the conditions or

disorders are due to mineral imbalances. Some examples are: Osteomalacia, Rickets, Osteopenia,

and Osteoporosis. These are only a few examples of what a person could suffer at a late stage of

their life.

Studies have shown that many extrinsic factors can influence and affect bone loss.

However, studies only give possibilities and can not be directly linked to how things happen

exactly or how they are directly associated with bone problems. If people learn to watch for these

issues at an early age, prevention can be done and the reduction of many problems could

possibly be avoided.
 References:

Floyd, R.T. (2007) Manual of Structural Kinesiology. (16th ed). McGraw Hill.

Frost, H. 1990). Skeletal structural adaptations to mechanical usage (SATMU).

Redefining Wolff’s law: The bone modelling problem. 22, 403–413.

Haywood, K., Getchell, N., (2009). Life Span Motor Development, (5ed). Illinois:

Thomas-Shore.

Lujan, B., White, R., Human Physiology in Space. (2009). Retrieved November 23, 2009,

from http://www.nsbri.org/HumanPhysSpace/focus6/ep_development.html

Marieb, E.N. (2008) Human Anatomy & Physiology. (8th ed). Pearson Education.

Parfitt, A. (1990) Bone-forming cells in clinical conditions. The Osteoblast and

Osteocyte. 351–429.

Powers, S.K. (2007) Exercise Physiology. (6th ed). McGraw Hill.

Schoenau, E., Saggese, G., Peter, F., Baroncelli, G., Shaw, N., Crabtree, N., et al. (2004).

From bone biology to bone analysis. Hormone Research, 61(6), 257-269.