Lumbar vertebral canal size in adults and children: Observations from a skeletal sample from London, England

Abstract

The morphometry of the lumbar vertebral canal is of importance to clinical and bioarchaeological researchers, yet there are no growth standards for its diameters and there is a disagreement over the age at which its development is complete. Direct measurements of the midsagittal and interpedicular diameters of the lumbar vertebral canal (L1–L5) were taken from 65 children (3–17 years) and 120 adults (>17 years) from the East Smithfield Black Death cemetery, London (1348–1350 CE) to discover the age at which these diameters reached their final adult size in an historical population from later mediaeval London. Children were grouped into age categories: 3–5 years; 6–10 years; 11–14 years; 15–17 years, and the group means of each diameter were compared with the mean adult diameters using one-way ANOVAs. The child midsagittal diameters were not significantly different from adults in any age category, indicating that this diameter reached adult size by 3–5 years of age. However, interpedicular diameters increased with age until 15–17 years when they reached full adult size. Mean diameters and percentiles (10th and 90th) are provided for each age category.