Spine development. Really 18 years?

Hi CarbonRobot

As per this article (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6995907):


That confirms your statement. According to the article:



The triradiate cartilage is a cartilaginous structure that is located at the junction of the three bones that make up the pelvis: the ilium, ischium, and pubis. It is not directly related to the spine, but it is important for the development and growth of the pelvis, which is a key component of the skeletal structure that supports the spine.

The spine is only poorly ossified at the early stages of life, hence I don't think it has to do with cartilage. I highly recommend on the following video in reference to bone growth... It may clear some doubts on how bones grow/elongate

So cartilage between spinal bones might be completely by puberty?

In-between the individual vertebrae there are discs composed of fibrocartilage, but these don't impact growth. I found an interesting article that states:


I'm not sure what this means exactly, but it sort of goes against my initial thinking that the vertebra fully ossify by late teens. I wish I could read more into it, but I can't get the full copy.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8167393

Then, in this article we read the contrary:


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938217/