All the bones in our body are what makes up the skeletal system. It offers support to hold our body up, protection of organs, movement, blood cell formation, and stores inorganic materials such as calcium. The skeleton is mainly made up of connective tissue: bone tissue, cartilage, and fibrous connective tissue. First we’ll talk about the anatomy of our bones and then the anatomy of the whole skeletal system.
Bones:
A bone is structurally organized by two types of tissue: cortical/compact and trabecular/spongy bone tissue. Cortical bone tissue is denser while trabecular bone tissue is spongier.
Bones are also classified by their shape. A long bone is found in the limbs and it provides structural support. Flat bones are like plates and they protect organs. An example is how the skull protects the brain. Short bones look like building blocks and they allow you to have more movement. The wrist is made up of many short bones so that you can move in lots of directions. Lastly, is the irregular bone. They come in a variety of shapes and usually attach to muscles, tendons, or ligaments.
This is a long bone and I’ll be using it as an example to show the anatomy of a bone.
The medullary cavity is a hollow chamber filled with bone marrow–spongy, soft tissue. There is red marrow which makes blood cells like red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets and there is yellow marrow which is made mostly of fat that can become cartilage. Along the medullary cavity is the endosteum.
The diaphysis is the shaft of the long bone and the epiphysis is at the end of each longbone. The diaphysis contains mostly compact bone and at the epiphysis is spongy bone. Around the entire bone is periosteum which is a membrane of blood vessels and nerves. It is what gives the bone cells nutrients. Lasty, at the epiphysis is articular cartilage to enable the joints to withstand movement without creating too much friction.
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