• Question: Why do old people sometimes get a hunchback?

    Asked by Afaf to Siana, Sara, Richard, Peter, Carolyn on 17 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Richard Unwin

      Richard Unwin answered on 17 Nov 2015:

      Not all old peoples backs will do this, but some do, and it’s because the bones that make up the spine, the vertebrae, become weaker and brittle and can squashed (or even get tiny fractures, which are diagnosed as ‘back pain’) into slight wedge shapes that make then lean forward.

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