The clavicle is a sigmoid-shaped bone easily visible in thin people and palpable in all except the morbidly obese. The atypical asymmetric pattern and varied diaphyseal breadths are the results of patterns of an individual, mechanical behavior, and unique developmental pathway of the clavicle. The varied diaphyseal breadths are more sensitive to the effects of loadings than the lengths.The sample size was 130 adult clavicles. Bones showing obvious pathological deformities were excluded from the study. Factors such as mechanical load, pressure and tension created by muscular attachments, and genetic endowments might be responsible for such asymmetries not only in various metric traits of clavicle but also among the non-metric traits of both side human clavicles. The fact of lesser calcium intake in the form of milk and milk products by the East Indian population may have led to the decreased thickness of the bone and hence lesser midclavicular circumference.

Clavicle, mechanical behavior, genetic endowments, asymmetries, midclavicular circumference