Trabecular Architecture of the Proximal Tibia in Extant Hominids

Extant humans and non-human apes are characterized by diverse locomotor and postural behaviors, resulting in different joint loading patterns. These behaviors influence trabecular bone, which responds to mechanical loading and joint posture. While prior studies have examined femoral trabecular structure, this study is the first to assess trabecular architecture in the proximal tibia across extant hominoids to evaluate how differences in joint use and posture are reflected in tibial morphology.

We analyze trabecular structure in the proximal tibiae of Homo sapiens (n = 25), Gorilla (n = 13), Pan troglodytes (n = 15) and Pongo sp. (n = 7). Each tibia was scanned using high-resolution microtomography, and cortical and trabecular bone were isolated from each other. Canonical holistic morphometric analysis was used to quantify trabecular bone volume fraction and degree of anisotropy. Spatial distributions of these variables were compared across taxa using principal component analysis, and group differences were assessed with multivariate analysis of variance and pairwise tests.

Results show that trabecular bone volume and anisotropy reflect habitual knee posture: extended in bipedal Homo, and flexed in non-human apes. In Gorilla, males exhibit more extended knee use than females, while no significant sex differences were observed in Homo or Pan (sex differences in Pongo were not tested due to sample limitations).

We demonstrate that the trabecular structure of the proximal tibia is consistent with habitual locomotor loading in extant hominids, which provides the comparative context to interpret knee posture, biomechanical loading, and predominant locomotor behaviors in fossil hominids.