Case Study #2 Skeletal System

Clue #1-The situation There is a volunteer neighborhood cleanup day going on in your community. A young boy is in your group. You notice him because he has an striking set of facial features. He has a triangular shaped face with a fairly pointy chin and the whites of his eyes have a purplish tint.

Clue #2 – The accident The young boy is helping out by dragging a heavy bag of litter. All of a sudden he lets out a loud cry of pain. You are thinking that maybe he pulled a muscle as you rush over to check on him. To your surprise, you notice that his hand is dangling as if he broke his forearm. You rush the child to his parents, and he is hurried off to the hospital.

Clue #3-Background Later that day, you see the boy’s father, and he tells you how the boy is doing. He laments that his son should really be more careful about his activities. His son has broken both his legs twice, as well as that same arm, on the padded school playground. He then explains that it takes a long time for the boy’s bones to heal.

Clue #4 – more background The father mentions that two years ago the boy lost his hearing in one ear after getting too close to an exploding fire cracker. The father ends the story saying, “Otherwise, he is your typical kid. He hardly has a sick day off from school, and he is growing like a weed.”

The question- Why is this boy so accident-prone? How is it that his bones break so easily? Write your diagnosis of his condition based on the information we have covered in this unit. Back up your statements with facts and sources of information (if you go to a different website/source, you must cite it). Your explanation needs to be at least one complete, grammatically correct paragraph with sources cited in- text.