Parts of Human Skeleton

Skull:

The bony part of our head is called skull. Skull protects the brain and our main sense organs like eyes, ears and nose. The skull is made of 22 bony plates joined together. Skull also gives shape to our head.

Backbone

• The backbone is a long, hollow, rod-like structure running from the neck to the hips , inside our body.
• The scientific name of backbone is vertebral column.
• Backbone forms the main supporting structure of the body. It is made up of 33 small bones placed one over the other.
• Small bones which make up the backbone are called vertebrate. Between the various vertebrae of backbone are the discs of cartilage (soft bone).
• Backbone protects the spinal cord from damage.
• Backbone attaches shoulder bones, ribs, and hip bone.
• Backbone supports the head at its top.

Bones of the Hand:

• Hand is made up of three parts: wrist, palm and fingers.
• Wrist is made up of 8 small bones known as Carpals.
• Palm of hand is composed of 5 longer bones known as metacarpals.
• The finger(including thumb) are made of jointed bones called phalanges.
• The wrist bones form movable joint with the bones of forearm and due to this our wrist is flexible.

Rib Cage:

• It is formed by the joining of chest bone and the backbone joint to form a box.
• There are 12 pairs of  ribs in the chest of our body.
• Their is a small bone called breast bone in the chest region, in front of our body.
• The hollow, bony structure formed by the ribs is called ‘rib cage’.
• The rib cage protects the delicate internal organs like heart,liver and lungs.
• Rib cage takes part in our breathing movements.

Shoulder Bones

• Two bones which are prominent at the back are known as the shoulder bones.
• There are two shoulder bones: Collar bone and Shoulder blade.
• The collar bone is a long, curved bone. One end of the collar bone is attached to the shoulder blade and the other end of collar bone is fixed to the breast bone of rib cage.
• Collar bone on the two sides of the neck keep the shoulders apart.
• Each shoulder blade has a cup-shaped socket.
• Shoulder blades attach the arms to our body.
• Shoulder blades provide sites for muscle attachments which move the arms, neck and upper part of the body.

Pelvic Bones or Hip bone:

• The hip bone forms a large, basin-shaped frame at the lower end of the backbone , to which the legs are attached.
• Portion of your body below the stomach is enclosed by the Pelvic bones.
• The hip bone has two sockets (hollow spaces) on the two sides of its lower part.
• The thigh bones of our legs are joined to the hip bone by the ball and socket joints.
• Hip bone supports and protects the lower organs of the body such as intestines, urinary bladder and internal sex organs.
• Hip bone attaches the leg to our body.
• This part helps us to sit.

Summary of different parts of Skeleton