Is this really true?

[Larry]

Yes, the ribs do grow back, forming a new rib. This takes approximately two to three months.

 

[seebs]

It may be.

http://www.scoliosis.org/resources/medicalupdates/ribthoracoplasty.php

"Q: When the ribs grow back after surgery, do they actually form new rib bone and reconnect to the spine, and how long does it take for this to happen?
A: Yes, the ribs do grow back, forming a new rib. This takes approximately two to three months."

So, that wasn't Ark Guy, that was the national scoliosis foundation, and he apparently forgot to cite his source.

 

[Ark Guy]

It may be.

http://www.scoliosis.org/resources/medicalupdates/ribthoracoplasty.php

"Q: When the ribs grow back after surgery, do they actually form new rib bone and reconnect to the spine, and how long does it take for this to happen?
A: Yes, the ribs do grow back, forming a new rib. This takes approximately two to three months."

So, that wasn't Ark Guy, that was the national scoliosis foundation, and he apparently forgot to cite his source.

The source was sited, I mentioned there was a link in a previous thread.

You obviously missed that post seebs.

 

[seebs]

I probably did. I posted the same link at least once, too.

I have not found other sources either way, and I have noticed a lot of doctors claiming ribs don't grow back, so it may be more complicated than that.

 

[lucaspa]

Wait a minute, guys. This is not the complete removal of a rib. It is removing a piece of the rib and making it shorter. It is essentially a man made fracture. And, of course, fractures heal.

So, if this was being used for the Adam/Eve rib thing, then it is inappropriate.

 

[seebs]

I may have misunderstood the site in question. It seems to say that a rib "grows back, forming a new rib". Forming a new rib sounds like a bone growing back. I am fairly skeptical of this claim, which I've never seen outside that one site and some creationist sites, but it's an interesting one.

 

[ej]

Bones heal but they don't grow back once removed.

 

[lucaspa]

I may have misunderstood the site in question. It seems to say that a rib "grows back, forming a new rib". Forming a new rib sounds like a bone growing back. I am fairly skeptical of this claim, which I've never seen outside that one site and some creationist sites, but it's an interesting one.

Remember, they are explaining this to a lay audience. What they are talking about doing is shortening the rib because one side was lengthened due to the scoliosis. So they have to go in and "remove" part of that side to shorten it. Because of the "remove", they talk about the rib "growing back". What they are actually doing is removing a segment of the rib but instead of there being a gap, they are putting the ends next to one another as occurs in a fracture. So the rib heals as tho it were broken.

 

[lucaspa]

Bones heal but they don't grow back once removed.

Right. Many procedures require harvesting the fibula -- the small bone in back of the shin bone (tibia). The fibula doesn't participate in weight bearing, which is why it is used. But the fibula doesn't grow back.

In every bone there is what is called a "critical sized defect". This is a defect so large that the bone won't regenerate/heal. This is usually 2.5 times the diameter of a long bone.