14 DAY TRIAL // The scientific community has long been aware of the fact that the spinal columns of men and women are not exactly alike in that the vertebrae that make up the male spine have a somewhat bigger cross-section than the ones that comprise the female spine.
In a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics, a team of scientists at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles show that this difference is not something that develops in time but is instead present at birth.
The researchers, led by specialist Vicente Gilsanz, say that, having used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the spine of newborn boys and girls, they found the vertebral cross-section to be an average 10.6% smaller in the latter.
“Although we've known that girls had smaller vertebrae than boys, we did not know how early this difference first occurred. Our study indicates that the distinction between sexes is already present at birth,” said scientist Vicente Gilsanz, as cited by EurekAlert.
Interestingly, the researchers say that, of all mammals, this distinction between the anatomy of the male and the female spine has so far only been documented in humans.
The widely accepted view is that women evolved to have distinct spinal columns so that they can readjust them and still maintain their center of gravity and walk while pregnant. Then again, this difference also makes them more vulnerable to spine fractures.