A study of more than 140 children and young people from the Netherlands has identified spinal changes associated with the physical demands of child labor between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Alex Tutwiler and Rachel Schats of Leiden University examined the remains of children who worked in rural dairy farms and urban factories. Farm labor included hauling milk and cheese, while factory work involved spinning, sewing, and weaving. Some children had begun working as early as age four.
The researchers compared these remains with bones from children of affluent families who were not engaged in physical labor. The examination focused on the spine, where the team found worn-down spinal joints, bony growths along the edges of vertebrae, and dents in the spinal discs.
The most pronounced damage appeared in the children who repeatedly carried heavy loads on dairy farms. The remains of factory workers also showed lower-back problems, although the source material does not identify the same degree of damage in that group.
Unexpectedly, lower-back changes were found among the affluent children as well. Tutwiler and Schats suggested that these injuries may have resulted from activities such as horseback riding and playing, or from spending long periods sitting and studying. The researchers presented this as a possible explanation rather than a confirmed cause.
The findings provide skeletal evidence of the physical effects of labor on growing bodies. According to the report, the researchers said that written historical accounts describe child labor, while the bones show its consequences directly. The study was published in the International Journal of Paleopathology.
