Normal length changes in hand bones during adulthood: Exploratory study of ray two

A longitudinal analysis was made of total length changes of the four epiphyseal bones of ray two, the index finger, during adulthood. Matched pairs of standardized hand-wrist radiographs on 37 individuals between earlier (means = 22 years) and later (means = 54 years) adult age-grades show that the distal and middle phalanges continue to increase in overall length; the proximal phalange exhibits no change; and the metacarpal significantly decreases in size. The changes in these normal adults are also discernible in cross-sectional data but are not obvious statistically. Causes of the specific increases and decreases remain speculative.