Humpback (redirected from Humpback Whales)

humpback: see hunchback.

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humpback

1. another word for hunchback

2. a large whalebone whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, closely related and similar to the rorquals but with a humped back and long flippers: family Balaenopteridae

3. a Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, the male of which has a humped back and hooked jaws

4. Brit a road bridge having a sharp incline and decline and usually a narrow roadway

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humpback [′həmp‚bak]

(medicine)

kyphosis

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Humpback 

a deformity of the spine that develops as a result of various diseases or injuries of the spine (most frequently in tubercular spondylitis). As a result of a pathological process, destruction of some vertebral bodies occurs, resulting in their deformation, which in its turn entails curvature of the spine in anterior-posterior and lateral directions. When humpback develops in children or young people, deformation of the spine is severe, inasmuch as further development of the skeleton does not proceed normally. A humpback in the form of a rounded protuberance in the back may form in rickets, as a result of changes in bone tissue. Rickety humpback is usually corrected with timely and correct treatment of rickets. The whole thorax is deformed simultaneously with the formation of a humpback—a so-called costal hump is formed, which also develops in lateral curvatures of the spine (scolioses). Prophylaxis of humpback formation in tubercular spondylitis consists of early and correct treatment of the tubercular process; in rickets preventive measures in administering antirachitic treatment, restraining the infant from sitting up too early, placing the infant on its abdomen from the age of 2½ months, massaging the back muscles, and exercising.

A special place is occupied by so-called cardiac hump—a protuberance of the thorax in the region of the heart, usually observed in young people who suffer from cardiac defects (chiefly aortic insufficiency).