THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
Benita McNair
HS 120
Kaplan University
The skeletal system is consisted of many bones buried within the muscles and other soft tissues. The skeletal system also provides us with a rigid framework and supports our bodies. There are five functions of the skeletal system: support, protection, movement, hematopoiesis, and mineral storage.
Support is the endoskeleton that supports all the weight of our body parts. The skeletal system is known as the framework of the body which tendons and fascia are attached enabling skeletal muscles, viscera, and skin to maintain a holdfast. Protection is the cranium, thoracic cage, and pelvic girdle that surrounds and protects the soft body parts. Protection also makes sure that the vital organs are safe from any harm.
Movement is the locomotion by responding to certain joints to the contractile activities of the skeletal muscles. The bones can also move to varying degrees depending on the joint articulating adjacent bones. Hematopoiesis is the red bone marrow (tissue) found in the spaces with substances that produce the body’s red blood cells.
The mineral storage plays a very important role within the skeletal system. It serves as a depot for calcium, which is vital to proper functioning of cell membranes. It serves as storage for phosphorus, which is needed in intermediary metabolism.
Bones are classified as long, short, irregular, flat, or sesamoid. The long bones are the bones of the upper arms, forearms and lower legs. They posses a long shaft called diaphysis that has a hollow tube made of a dense type of bone called compact bone in their cylindrical walls. The ends of the bones are called epiphyses that form some of the most complex articulation: the wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. They consist of a spongy core within a shell of compact bone. The short bones also consist of palms and fingers.
The flat...