BONES AND MUSCLES

The framework of the human body is its skeletal system, composed of approximately 206 bones
that support the body and protect vital organs. The body”s bones are masterpieces of structural
design, comparable in strength to reinforced concrete, yet self-repairing and far more resilient.
Precisely engineered joints between bones allow the body to move: the power for movement is
provided by strong muscles attached to the bones by cablelike tendons. In addition to their
structural roles, bones also served to produce blood cells. This vital function is carried out by
bone marrow inside the body’s long bones, which manufactures new red blood cells at the
astonishing rate of 1.2 million per second. The marrow also produces white blood cells, the
agents of the body’s immune system. Finally, bones serve as a reservoir of important minerals
such as calcium and phosphorus. Bones account for about 20 percent of the body’s weight.

According to God’s precision engineering, the muscular system functions together with the
skeletal system and the nervous system to make body movements possible. The individual
organs of the muscular system are skeletal muscles, which make up about between 40 and 50
percent of the body”s weight.

The Axial Skeleton

The skeletal system consists of two broad divisions, the axial skeleton and the appendicular
skeleton. The axial skeleton is literally the “backbone” of the skeletal system; it is made up of
eighty bones that constitute the head and spine. Its members include the bones of the skull, the
hyoid bone in the neck, the vertebrae of the neck and backbone, the sternum or breastbone, and
the ribs. The appendiculus skeleton, on the other hand, refers to the bones of the appendages
(arms and legs), shoulders, and hips.

Bones of the Head

Cranial bones. Your skull can be dvided into two main parts, the cranium and the facial
craniumbones. The largest portion of the skull is the the senskin, or brain case, which compoes
the top, sides, and rear of the skull. The cranium is made up of eiht bones joined tighly together
to form and armored shell for the brain. Important cranial bones include the frontal bone
(forehead), the parietal bones (top of the head), the temporal bones (sides of the head), and the
occipital bone (back oof the head).

Although the bones are fused tighly together in an adult, they are joined only loosely together in
the skull of an infant. The bones of an infant”s cranium are connected by tough membranes,
known as fontanels, made of fibrous connective tissue; the fontanels are responsible for the
“soft spots” on the top and back of an infant”s head. The flexibity imparted by the fontanels
allows the baby”s skull to deform somewhat in order to fit through the narrow bith canal during
the miracle of birth. The fontanels also enable the skull to grow larger as the child grows. The
gaps between the infant”s crainial bones gradually shrink as the fontanels are replaced by
growing bone. Within a year or two, the fontanels disappear completely, and the cranal bones
are joined tighly together at uneven lines known as sutures. The jagged sutures are another
evidence of God”s design; they give the skull great strength by helping to absorb some of the
shock from a blow to the head.
Facial bones. The 14 bones of the facial skeleton serve as the framework of the face and jaw.
The most important of the facial bones are the two maxillary bones, which form the central
portion of the face and serve as the attachments for your upper teeth. The maxillary bones,
together with palatine bones located behind them, also form the roof of the mouth, or palate.
The mandible, which forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth, is the only movable bone
of the skull and is held to the cranium by strong connective tissuues known as ligaments (tissues
that join bones to other bones).

Sinuses. Certain bones of the skull are designed with hollow spaces known as sinuses. Large
sinuses are located in the maxillary bones of the face and in the frontal and sphenoid bones of
the cranium. When you speak, sound waves resonate within the sinuses allow your skull to be
lighter than if it were made of sold bone.

The hyoid and middle ear bones. An important bone hidden in the upper neck, just above your
larynx (voicebox), is the U-shaped hyoid bone. Although not considered part of the skull, the
hyoid bone serves as the foundation of many of the tongue muscles and of certain other muscles
that allow you to swallow.

The smallest bones in the human body are the three middle ear bones, the malleus (hammer),
incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup). These structures, located in a hollow cavit inside each
temporal bone, constitute a mechanical linkage between the eardrum and the cochlea (the snail-
shaped structure of the inner ear that senses sound vibrates). This linkage serves to amplify the
vibrations). This linkage serves to amplify the vibrations of the eardrum and pass them to the
cochlea, enabling you to hear.

Bones of the spine

The chief structural member of the body is the vertebral column (also known as the spine, spinal
column or backbone, a massive columnlike structure composed of 26 individual segments called
vertebrae (sing, vertebra). The vertebral column serves as the support to which which all the
other parts of the skeleton are attached. In between the vertebrae are disks of flexible cartilage
called intervertebral disks, which allow the spine to bend and twist somewhat and also act as a
shock absorbers. (Cartilage is tough, rubbery connective tissue that is sometimes called gristle.)
Hollow cavities near the rear of each vertebra form a long vertical tunnel through the spine that
encloses the spinal cord, protecting it form damage.

Regions of the vertebrae that form the neck are called the cervical vertebrae. The uppermost of
these, known as the atlas, serves as the mounting to which the head is connected. Special
bearings on the atlas allow the head to rotate upward or downward, such as when you look at
the ceiling of floor while keeping you neck straight. The second cervical vertebra, the axis, is
designed as the base for the atlas. Bearing surfaces o the axis allow the atlas to swivel left or
right, such as when you turn your head to the side. The other five cervical vertebrae are joined
together by intervertebral disks; the flexibility of these disks allows you tilt your head to the
side and crane your neck backward or forward.

The longest segment of the vertebral column is composed of the twelve thoracic vertebrae.
Slightly larger and thicks tlign the cervical vertebrae, the thoracic vertebrae serves as a
ligaments for the rib cage. Below the thoracic vertebrae, the spine widens jaw, the five lumbar
vertebrae, which are the largest of all the vertebrae. The lumbar vertebrae form the lower back
and support the weight of the entire upper body. When the lumbar vertebrae are engaged with
the supporting muscles, they can bear incredible burdens –another striking example of God”s
design and provision. The pelvic region consistis of the sacral vertebrae, which are five separate
vertebrae in infants but are fused into a single bone, called the sacrum, in adults. The sacrum is
joined rigidly to the hip bones to form the foundation of the pine. Beneath the sacrum is the tiny
coccyx, which consists of four separate vertebrae in infants but are fused into a single bone in
adults. Also know as the tailbone, the coccyx serves as an attachment for various muscles that
allow us to stand in an upright position and aid in the elimination of wastes. The coccyx also
helps to absorb the shock to your spine when you sit down.

Curvatures of the vertebral column. The vertebrae do not form a straight pillarlike column, but
instead form four curvatures from front to back: the cervical curvature, the thoracic curvature,
the lumbar curvature, and the pelvis curvature. God designed these curves of the vertebral
column to provide the spine with additional strength and flexibility, allowing it to absorb shocks
and helping to protect it against fracture.

Although the spine is designed to be straight when viewed fromm the front or back, it has a
slight sideways curve in most people (this is normal). Howewer, in some people, the spine has
an excessive lateral (sideways) curve, causing one shoulder blade to protrude abnormally and
one side of the waist or hips to be higher than the other. A severe lateral curvanture of the spine
is known as scoliosis. Other clinical conditions involving abnormal curvatures of the spine are
humpback or hunchback (kyphosis), which results from excessive thoracic curvature, and
swayback (lordosis), which results from excessive lumbar curvature.

Bones of the Chest

The vital internal organs of the thoracic cavity, such as the heart and lungs, are protected by the
bones of the chest, which make up the thoracic cage. The most prominent bones of the thoracic
cage are the ribs, long, curved bones that are attached to the thoracic vertebrae, they are joined
to the sternum indirectly by short segments of flexible cartilage called the costal cartilages (the
Latin word costa means “rib”). Because the costal cartilages are not rigid bone but rather
flexible cartilage, they allow the thoracic cage to expand and contract during breathing. Only
the upper seven pairs of ribs are attached (via their costal cartilages) to the sternum itself; for
this reason, the upper seven pairs of ribs are called true ribs. The rest of the ribs, which do not
connect to the sternum itself, are known as false ribs. The bottom two pairs of false ribs are
called floating ribs because they do not connect to the front of the thoracic cage at all; the
remaining three pairs of false ribs are attached to the costal cartilages of the lowest pair of true
ribs instead of to the sternum.

1.- What are the two broad divisions of the skeleton?

2.- Name the major bones of the head and chest.

3.- Describe the functions of the cranium, fontanels, sutures, and sinuses.

4.- Describe the functions of the hyoid bone and the middle ear bones.

5.- Name the bones, regions, and curves of the vertebral column.

6.- What characteristicis distinguish true ribs from false ribs and floating ribs?
The Appendicular Skeleton

You may recall that the skeletal system consist of two broad divisions, the axial skeleton and the
appendicular skeleton. The appendicular skeleton consist of the 126 bones that form the girdle
(the shoulders), the pelvic girdle (the hips), and the appendages (the arms and legs).

Bones of the Shoulders

The body”s upper appendages the arms, are attached to the axial skeleton by the bones of the
shoulders. The shoulder bones, collectively known as the pectoral girdle, include the shoulder
blades (called scapular) and the collarbones (called clavicles).

The largest bones of the pectoral girdle are the shoulder blades, or scapulae (sing., scapula),
which cotain he sockets for the arms. The scapulae are not fixed rigidly to the axial skeleton, but
are suspende by muscles and ligaments so that they can moved at will, allowing you to raise and
lower your shoulder joint in the body. Each scapula is braced by a collarbone, or clavide, that
attaches to the top of your sternum.

Bones of the Upper Extremities

God designed our upper extremities for both strength and dexterity; the large bones and muscles
of the shoulders and arms provide great strength, while the intricate structures of the wrists and
hand allow for precision movements. Each upper limb is composed of a total of 30 bones, only
three of which form the arm itself; the remaining 27 bones form the wrist,