Can bones move?

The Muscular System

The Muscular System Activity! Your muscles are attached to your bones by tendons. If you reach down and touch the back of your ankle, you can pinch a big tendon called your Achilles' tendon. Without tendons, your muscles wouldn’t be able to move the different parts of your body. Activity! When your muscles get shorter, they pull on your bones which makes them move. It's your muscular and skeletal systems working together that allow you to move all the different parts of your body.

Let’s learn more about our bones The smallest bones are in the ear. Most people have 12 pairs of ribs which protect you heart and lungs. The most important bone is the spine which helps us twist and bend, and holds our bodies upright. It also protects the spinal cord, a large bundle of nerves that send information from the brain to the rest of the body. The spine is made of 33 bones called vertebrae. The first 7 bones support your head and neck. The next 12 keep your ribs in place. The bottom sections of the spine are important to help you pick up a heavy backpack, or skip, and even walk. Your skull protects the most important part of all, the brain. When you pick up your lunch, you're using the bones in your fingers, hand, wrist, and arm. Each arm is attached to a shoulder blade. The arm is made up of three bones: the humerus, which is above your elbow, and the radius and ulna which are below the elbow. The centre part of your hand is made up of five separate bones. Each finger has three bones and the thumb has two. Your legs are attached to a circular group of bones called your pelvis which protects your digestive system. Your leg bones are very large and strong to help support the weight of your body. The bone that goes from your pelvis to your knee is called the femur. It’s the longest bone in your body. At the knee, you have a kneecap that protects the knee joint.

What else is in the Skeletal System? The skeletal system also includes ligaments, and cartilage that work together with your muscles to help you move. Ligaments attach bones to other bones like strong rubber bands. Without ligaments, our bones wouldn’t be connected together. Cartilage is special tissue in the body that allows bones to rub against each other smoothly. It also supports your joints and other parts of the body, like your ear. If you feel your ear you will notice it is squishy. This is because it is made out of cartilage, not bone.                            

Movement Your skeletal system also allows movement. The place where two bones meet is called a joint. Joints connect bones together to help them move. If you didn't have joints, you'd be completely stiff. Your knees and elbows are joints. Many joints are called ball and socket, like at your shoulders. They allow for lots of movement in every direction. Other types are called hinge joints. Just like a door, they only allow you to bend in one direction. You also have many smaller hinge joints in your fingers and toes.