A scientifical way to explain how werewolves shift?

[Terastas]

Most of the bones-structure of a wolf is simular to ours, but in alot of cases located differently. For example, the shoulderblades of a wolf (or dog, and cats too I think) are closer together and pointed upwards at an angle. The bones in the hands and feet are very simular to that of a wolf or dog's paw (although I imagine a wolf's paw being bigger then a dog's), but my main corcern with anatomy would be the collarbones. These bones are exclusive to primates, so if you were to shift to complete wolf form it could form a problem.

Then again, if a werewolf changes into hybrid form it would be fine, since it would still swing his arms / front paws around like a human.

My own way around this has been, simply put, not to change it. As in, even in full wolf form, werewolves retain their collarbones, human-sized craniums, etc.

It could simply be that the "full wolf" form is only a full wolf externally; that they would only appear to be a wolf, or at least close enough to an actual wolf that nobody but an absolute wolf enthusiast would know the difference without getting way up close, doing a direct side-by-side comparison or performing an autopsy.

Me personally, I'm not big on the whole "species change" angle. I think of lycanthropy as a fantastic syndrome but undergoing a complete species change would be too farfetched even for me.

[Morkulv]

That is also the way I see it, but I think most people here would like to see a design that looks more wolf than human. Explaining that in a scientific way would require an insane amount of suspension of disbelief.

[Terastas]

That is also the way I see it, but I think most people here would like to see a design that looks more wolf than human. Explaining that in a scientific way would require an insane amount of suspension of disbelief.

True, though as I said, the retained human features wouldn't necessarily have to be easily apparent. Most people wouldn't notice that a wolf's forehead was slightly larger than in the wild, at least not without getting closer than any rational person (or camera) ever should. Likewise, the collarbone could be concealed under the fur, so the only way it would suffice as a telltale werewolf sign would be if the werewolf was completely bald.

What I'm getting at is that you could have that more wolf-like werewolf in fiction and, when the fridge logic of the cranium, collarbone etc. are brought up, acknowledge those things as true but dismiss them as nothing to worry about. If the only way to tell for sure is to do something to the wolf that the wolf should be trying to avoid anyway, nobody will ever be the wiser.