http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:18:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-467 broncos fan 2 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:30:21 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-467 the arms would just be longer and have more joints the arms would just be longer and have more joints

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-466 MyHearts Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:55:41 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-466 I see alot of intelligent answers but most of them are unnecessarily complicated. Look at the skeletal system of a bat as far as the way the joints are and shoulders.. u should find your answer I see alot of intelligent answers but most of them are unnecessarily complicated. Look at the skeletal system of a bat as far as the way the joints are and shoulders.. u should find your answer

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-465 Christine P Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:56:34 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-465 See articlehttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world… See articlehttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world…

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-464 Laura S Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:15:15 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-464 The shoulders would be seriously different! Plus there would have to be multiples of the nerves and blood vessels and tendons and muscles in the arms. It's extremely unlikely to say the least. The shoulders would be seriously different!
Plus there would have to be multiples of the nerves and blood vessels and tendons and muscles in the arms.
It’s extremely unlikely to say the least.

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-463 ladyren Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:10:59 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-463 It would be a fake, hon. Above mollusks, and toward reptiles and amphibians, we are more or less 5 pointed critters... upper limbs, lower limbs (an exaggerated tail in some) and a head. Nothing like that would have evolved on this planet... maybe on another, but not on planet earth. EDIT: Your above responsent has correctly helped you//// bats are as well mammals as are we, and evolved on the same pattern as we have....The bones in the upper limbs are the same as are ours except specialized. It would be a fake, hon. Above mollusks, and toward reptiles and amphibians, we are more or less 5 pointed critters… upper limbs, lower limbs (an exaggerated tail in some) and a head. Nothing like that would have evolved on this planet… maybe on another, but not on planet earth.
EDIT: Your above responsent has correctly helped you//// bats are as well mammals as are we, and evolved on the same pattern as we have….The bones in the upper limbs are the same as are ours except specialized.

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-462 Cassandra Inteli Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:42:08 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-462 The skeletal structure would have a major change. First of all, it is possible (a young girl in India has four arms and four legs). The shoulders would be broader than average, and the person's spine would be longer to spare room for such extra limbs. In legs, the pelvis would become larger. The skeletal structure would have a major change.
First of all, it is possible (a young girl in India has four arms and four legs). The shoulders would be broader than average, and the person’s spine would be longer to spare room for such extra limbs.
In legs, the pelvis would become larger.

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-461 gardenga Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:17:06 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-461 What you are asking is could mammals have segmented morphology like the arthropods, like millipedes. The repetition of body segments by duplicating the master regulatory Hox family of genes has occurred in basal organisms to produce segmented worms and similarly the loss of some Hox genes has produced limbless organisms. Snakes to longer express certain Hox genes so do not produce limbs. Fruit flies with modified Hox genes produce extra limbs or substitute one limb for another. Extra toes or fingers comes from mutant Hox13 alleles.http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/200… Hox genes assign function at the correct time and in the correct position along the body's head to tail axis. They code for the correct pattern of limb structures along the body and also along the limbs. They control the limb segments to produce the various ratios of limbs with unique proportions in different species. This is how the same pattern of bones can be redrawn for flippers, legs, or wings.http://www.evol.nw.ru/labs/lab38/spirov/… To get an extra set of limbs the entire collection of Hox genes that produce the vertebrae, the limb buds and control the growth pattern would need to be replicated. They would then direct the tissue and organ development to produce a repeat of the vertebrae shoulders and arm bones. Neither a live birth nor function is guaranteed. What you are asking is could mammals have segmented morphology like the arthropods, like millipedes. The repetition of body segments by duplicating the master regulatory Hox family of genes has occurred in basal organisms to produce segmented worms and similarly the loss of some Hox genes has produced limbless organisms. Snakes to longer express certain Hox genes so do not produce limbs. Fruit flies with modified Hox genes produce extra limbs or substitute one limb for another. Extra toes or fingers comes from mutant Hox13 alleles.http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/200…
Hox genes assign function at the correct time and in the correct position along the body’s head to tail axis. They code for the correct pattern of limb structures along the body and also along the limbs. They control the limb segments to produce the various ratios of limbs with unique proportions in different species. This is how the same pattern of bones can be redrawn for flippers, legs, or wings.http://www.evol.nw.ru/labs/lab38/spirov/…
To get an extra set of limbs the entire collection of Hox genes that produce the vertebrae, the limb buds and control the growth pattern would need to be replicated. They would then direct the tissue and organ development to produce a repeat of the vertebrae shoulders and arm bones. Neither a live birth nor function is guaranteed.

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-460 secretsa Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:31:06 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-460 It may be physically possible from a medical/biological viewpoint. But it's just not very possible from an *evolutionary* viewpoint. Evolution proceeds by small changes do the program that plays out during embryological development. To have 4 or 6 arms would require so many changes to occur during embryological development, that the resulting child would have lots of other health problems (heart and lung problems, spine problems, etc.) So these new appendages (if they were heritable at all) would not be passed on to offspring, much less have many generations to improve to the point where they functioned as well as our 2 arms. I should mention that the cases if children born with extra arms or legs are (a) usually a case of a reabsorbed, or partially formed twin; and (b) often the result of some environmental effect ... such as something the mother was exposed to during gestation ... rather than a genetic mutation (something that would be passed on to offspring. So to answer your question ... the problem would not be the arms ... but the shoulders. You can't have both shoulders and ribs sticking out of the same vertebrae. So where there was an extra set of shoulders, there would be no ribs. So I suppose that the structure would be a single set of shoulders attached to a rather strong colar bone, with multiple shoulder joints branching from the same bone. The scapula (shoulder blades) would have to be extra long to attach the muscles needed for each arm. (BTW ... looking at bats doesn't help much. They have a single set of arms just like we do.) It may be physically possible from a medical/biological viewpoint.
But it’s just not very possible from an *evolutionary* viewpoint.
Evolution proceeds by small changes do the program that plays out during embryological development. To have 4 or 6 arms would require so many changes to occur during embryological development, that the resulting child would have lots of other health problems (heart and lung problems, spine problems, etc.) So these new appendages (if they were heritable at all) would not be passed on to offspring, much less have many generations to improve to the point where they functioned as well as our 2 arms.
I should mention that the cases if children born with extra arms or legs are (a) usually a case of a reabsorbed, or partially formed twin; and (b) often the result of some environmental effect … such as something the mother was exposed to during gestation … rather than a genetic mutation (something that would be passed on to offspring.
So to answer your question … the problem would not be the arms … but the shoulders. You can’t have both shoulders and ribs sticking out of the same vertebrae. So where there was an extra set of shoulders, there would be no ribs.
So I suppose that the structure would be a single set of shoulders attached to a rather strong colar bone, with multiple shoulder joints branching from the same bone. The scapula (shoulder blades) would have to be extra long to attach the muscles needed for each arm.
(BTW … looking at bats doesn’t help much. They have a single set of arms just like we do.)

]]> http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/comment-page-1/#comment-459 corvis_9 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:31:48 +0000 http://www.freemedicaljokes.com/how-would-the-skeleton-of-a-4-or-6-armed-person-look/#comment-459 Fully functioning extra arms? If I had to design such a person I'd start by extending the upper torso, more ribs and vertebrae. To make room for one extra pair of arms. If I wanted to add a third pair I'd alter the pelvis, extending it vertically. Adding a couple support bones on the front to attach the collarbones to. They would be able to flex downward and be pushed out somewhat in a female version to allow for a baby bump when needed. With every extra pair I'd shorten and thicken the legs to deal with the extra weight. On the three pair model I'd splay the toes outward to help maintain balance when the arms are shifting around, and to spread out the weight of course. You'd probably need to make the ribcage wider for the third pair to help deal with the extra oxygen needed to run the extra tissue. In lengthening the ribcage for the first extra pair the lungs would also be extended and the heart made a little bigger to cope, but that's not skeletal now is it, just explaining the expansion for the third pair ribcage alteration really. If I wanted it to have a lifespan comparable to a human I'd have to reinforce the lumbar vertebra. (which I didn't do in the figure drawing below) The human lumbar region is aesthetic but so dysfunctional that one out of four will have to deal with back problems in middle age. With all the extra weight from the extra musculature the problem would go critical too quickly, possibly during puberty, it would have to be redesigned. Perhaps with sort of internal flying buttress like spars on the vertebra that slide across each other by attached ligaments and muscles. Like on sauropod vertebra. Bear in mind while looking at the figure drawing that I didn't use any reference and am kind of bad at drawing hands and feet and am not sure how the bones of the lower legs look. I was just trying to illustrate the changes in proportions Fully functioning extra arms?
If I had to design such a person I’d start by extending the upper torso, more ribs and vertebrae. To make room for one extra pair of arms. If I wanted to add a third pair I’d alter the pelvis, extending it vertically. Adding a couple support bones on the front to attach the collarbones to. They would be able to flex downward and be pushed out somewhat in a female version to allow for a baby bump when needed.
With every extra pair I’d shorten and thicken the legs to deal with the extra weight. On the three pair model I’d splay the toes outward to help maintain balance when the arms are shifting around, and to spread out the weight of course.
You’d probably need to make the ribcage wider for the third pair to help deal with the extra oxygen needed to run the extra tissue. In lengthening the ribcage for the first extra pair the lungs would also be extended and the heart made a little bigger to cope, but that’s not skeletal now is it, just explaining the expansion for the third pair ribcage alteration really.
If I wanted it to have a lifespan comparable to a human I’d have to reinforce the lumbar vertebra. (which I didn’t do in the figure drawing below) The human lumbar region is aesthetic but so dysfunctional that one out of four will have to deal with back problems in middle age. With all the extra weight from the extra musculature the problem would go critical too quickly, possibly during puberty, it would have to be redesigned. Perhaps with sort of internal flying buttress like spars on the vertebra that slide across each other by attached ligaments and muscles. Like on sauropod vertebra.
Bear in mind while looking at the figure drawing that I didn’t use any reference and am kind of bad at drawing hands and feet and am not sure how the bones of the lower legs look. I was just trying to illustrate the changes in proportions

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