Arthritis Linked to the Ice Age

Arthritis Linked to the Ice Age

Are you cursing your hips, knees and hands as you move about? Here’s how they’re a significant part of history.

Walking around with pain in your joints might not feel like an evolutionary benefit, but get this. Scientists say that the roots of arthritis go all the way back to the Ice Age, and are linked with something that could have helped humanity get through the cold, and bring us where we are today.

Sound good? Here’s what it’s all about. Arthritis is caused by a multitude of factors and researchers believe that genetics play a strong role.

Related: 5 Alternatives to Pain Medication

Research published in the journal Nature Genetics shows that a genetic mutation of the GDF5 gene has been found to nearly double your chances of developing the painful condition. The variant is very rare in African American populations, but is surprisingly found in around half of Caucasian European groups.

Short and Wide

So, if you’re short and stocky and suffer from arthritis, here’s the deal: scientists think the genetic variant became so prevalent in European populations while humans lived through the ice age, because it limits bone growth by 1 cm, keeping us closer to the Earth.

Being shorter and, well, “wider” made us less likely to fall and break a bone on the slippery ice. This would have been important as fracturing a bone in the cold could have meant an early death, in a time when there were few medical solutions.

Researchers say this gene variant is closely linked to other mutations that affect the activity in our joints and increase the risk of developing arthritis in your knee or hip joints.

So, the next time you hate the idea of sitting too long or taking a long walk along the lake, just think: your body’s history was key to the survival of humans. It got us to spread around the globe and develop into who we are today. It might be a trade off, but you could say you are proof of human success.

Photo credits: Estteban/Bigstock

Facebook Comments