bone sclerosis
eburnation

When it is chronic, it can lead to bone sclerosis and deformity.

Eburnation describes the bony sclerosis which occurs at the areas of cartilage loss.

A polished ivory-like appearance may also develop on the bones of the affected joints, reflecting a change called eburnation.

Some of the bones show evidence of osteoarthritis and eburnation, and the teeth are well worn.

Eburnation describes a degenerative process of bone commonly found in patients with osteoarthritis or non-union of fractures.

Of the approximately 67 cases of osteoarthritis found in the remains, a multitude of those cases had the disorder to the point of eburnation.

Evidence from the skeletal remains shows that the majority of joints were affected by eburnation, including the jaw, ankles, wrists, and elbows, in addition to the hips and knees.

There are a few ways for eburnation to occur: the continual movement of those joints, ingestion of a specific fungus that consumes cartilage or a combination of the two.

The skeleton had belonged to an individual who, based on evidence of osteoarthritis in the lumbar vertebrae, eburnation, and severe wear on the teeth with pulp exposure, was about 50 years old - relatively old for an early human - when he died.

Perhaps this was also the cause of the eburnation seen on the big toe of the left foot if the weight of the left leg, which would have been slightly shorter than the right, was carried on this joint whenever it was put to the ground.