Long
bones are hollow and their cross sectional shape is a circle. Engineers will
confirm that this structure is difficult to bend or twist. Under load walking,
running and lifting, our bones do flex a little, but their basic shape helps to
prevent them from grossly deforming or collapsing. If the central cavity of
long bones were solid, bones would be considerably heavier, requiring much
larger muscles to create movement. The added weight of extra muscle would
compound the problem. If we could remodel long bones by using the same amount
of bone to create a solid but thinner structure, the bone would have the same
weight-bearing capacity, but its ability to resist twisting or bending would be
reduced. Instead of flexing under load, thin bones would tend to fracture more
easily. Another consequence would be that the fat store that currently exists
in the central hollow area of long bones would need to be relocated. Blood
production, however, would continue as now, since blood is produced in tiny
cavities within the bony tissue itself at the ends of long bones, rather than
in the central hollow marrow.
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