1. What are the main functions of the skeletal system?

2. Five major functions Provides shape and support Enables you to move
Protects your organs
Produces blood cells
Stores minerals and other materials

3. Shape and support
Vertebrae – a total of 26 bones that make up your back bone
Backbone is the center of your skeleton

4. Movement and protection
Most of the body’s bones are associated with muscles
Muscles pull on the bones to make them move
Skull protects your brain
Ribs protect lungs, heart, and digestive organs

5. Production and storage
Tissues in the long bones of your arms and legs make certain blood cells
Bones store calcium

6. What role do joints play?
Joints allow bones to move in different ways
Immoveable joints – allow little or no movement – skull
Moveable joints – held together by ligaments (strong connective tissue)

7. Types of joints
Hinge joint – allows forward and backward motion - knee
Gliding joint – allows bones to slide over each other – wrist
Pivot joint – allows a bone to rotate – elbow
Ball and socket – greatest range of motion – shoulder and hip

8. What are the characteristics of bones?
Compact bone – hard and dense outside layer
Spongy bone – at the ends and just below compact bone

9. Bone Marrow
Red bone marrow – fills the spaces in some of your spongy bone – makes blood cells
Yellow Bone marrow – found in the space in the middle of the bone, and stores fat

10. Growth and health of bones
Cartilage is a strong connective tissue
When you were born, most of your bones were cartilage
As you age, your bones start to lose minerals
Osteoporosis – a condition where bones become weak and break easily