The Human Skeleton

We use a hanger to hang our clothes. What happens if there is no hanger? Our skeleton acts like a hanger. It gives us shape and support. What is our skeleton made of? What does it do? Our Skeleton everyone of us has a skeleton made up of many bones. These bones ive us a body structure, allow us to move and more. le can divide the skeleton into three main parts, namely the skull ne body skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The skull The skull is made up of different bones. These bones protect our brain. And make up the structure of our face and head. We can feel our skull by ishing on our head and jaw. The body skeleton The body skeleton is made up of the ribs, sternum and backbone. Do you know where our ribs are? It is very easy to feel the ribs by running our fingers along the sides and front of our body The ribs act like a cage of bones around our chest. We have 12 pairs of ribs attached to the backbone. The first seven pairs are attached in the front to the sternum. The sternum is a strong bone in the center. The three pairs are joined to the ribs above them. The last two pairs are not attached to anything in the front. The backbone, also known as the spine, holds our body up straight. It is made up of 33 bones. In between each bone in the backbone, there is a disk. These disks act like shock absorbers that cushion the bones when we jump or move. They avoid the bones from rubbing against one another The appendicular skeleton The appendicular skeleton is made up of the upper limb skeleton and ower limb skeleton. The upper limb skeleton consists of four main bones. They are the scapula, a large triangular bone at the upper corner of each side of the ribcage, and the arm bones which are the humerus, radius and ulna. There are many bones in our hands They help us to do many things like writing and picking up things. The lower limb skeleton has a few main bones. The pelvic girdle gives a strong support for the attachment of the limbs. The femur is the longest bone in the body. At the lower leg there are two bones, tibia in front and fibula behind. There are also some bones at the knees and the foot. Shapes of Bones There are four types of bones based on their shapes Long bones These bones have shape like a tube with two expanded ends on each side. Examples of long bones are the femur,radius ulna and tibia. Flat bones These bones appear flat and have two prominent surfaces. Examples of flat bones are scapula, skull and sternum, Short bones These bones are short and round. These bones can be found in the wrist and mid foot. Irregular bones These bones have non-uniform shape. Examples of these bones are the backbone and pelvic girdle. Joints Fold your arms. Rotate your head Lift your legs. Have you ever thought why we can move our body? A joint is the place where two bones meet. Joints hold the bones together and allow our skeleton to move. Some joints like the ones in our skull are fixed. These joints do not allow movement. Some joints allow small movements such as the joint at the finger bones, between the toes and between bones of the backbone near the waist. The most common joints are the synovial joints. This type of joint is highly movable and has special fluid called synovial fluid that helps them move freely. Functions of a Skeleton An adult human has 206 bones in his body. Some are large, such as he femur in our leg that supports our body. Some are very small, such as the stirrup bone in our ear that assists in hearing. In general, what are the functions of our skeleton? Dur skeleton gives support and shape to our body. Bones in the legs, backbone and hips hold up our body. Our bones also provide a framework for the attachment of muscles and other tissues. Our skeleton protects our soft internal organs from injuries. Our skull protects our brain and your rib cage protects our lungs and heart. When we fall or being struck, our bones absorb a huge amount of force. Blood cells are produced in the center part of our bones. These cells are important as they carry oxygen to our cells and waste materials from them. Besides that, our skeleton also aids movements. Joints allow movements and give our body flexibility. breathing occurs due to the movements of your rib cage. Our legs and arms are most obvious examples.