Learn about the human skeletal system and its salient features.

1. Skeletal System

2. Skeletal System
Skeletal
System
The skeletal system is a rigid framework of bones that serves many important functions. It
provides support, shape and strength to the body, protects the internal organs and also
helps in the movement of body parts. There are 206 bones in an adult human body.

3. Skeletal System
Skeletal
System
The skeletal system comprises of the skull, backbone, rib cage and limbs.

4. Skull
Skeletal
System
The skull is the bony framework of the head. It protects the brain.
The skull consists of 8 cranial and 14 facial bones thus making a total of 22 bones.

5. Skull
Skeletal
System
The cranial bones make up a protective frame around the brain.
The facial bones make the upper and lower jaws, and other facial features.

6. Skull
Skeletal
System
Except the lower jaw, all other bones in the skull are fixed and hence, immovable.
We are able to talk and eat because of the movable lower jaw.

7. Backbone
Skeletal
System
The backbone is also known as the vertebral column or the spine.
It consists of 33 irregularly shared bones called the vertebrae.

8. Backbone
Skeletal
System
Vertebrae make a strong framework which protects the spinal cord.
The vertebral column enables us to stand upright and maintain our balance.

9. Rib Cage
Skeletal
System
Ribs are thin, flat and curved bones. They form a protective cage around the heart
and the lungs called the rib cage. The rib cage consists of 24 bones arranged
in 12 pairs of ribs.

10. Rib Cage
Skeletal
System
The ribs are joined to the breastbone or the sternum in the front and to the backbone
at the back. Apart from protecting the heart and the lungs, the ribs protect parts of
the stomach, spleen and kidneys.

11. Limbs
Skeletal
System
The human body has two pairs of limbs – the forelimbs or the arms and the hindlimbs
or the legs. The thigh bone, known as femur is the longest bone in the body.

12. Joints
Skeletal
System
The places where two or more bones meet to join together are called joints. The
bones are held together at the joints by strong tissues called ligaments. Most of the
joints are movable except the joints in the tooth socket and in the skull.

13. Joints
Skeletal
System
There are four types of movable joints – the hinge joint, the ball and socket joint,
the pivot joint and the gliding joint.

14. Hinge Joint
Skeletal
System
Hinge joint allows movement in one direction only, similar to the hinges of a door.
Bones in the elbow, knee, toes and fingers have hinge joints.

15. Ball & Socket Joint
Skeletal
System
In the ball and socket joint, the ball-like end of one bone fits into a cup-like (socket)
of the other bone. It allows movement in all directions.
Shoulder and hip joints are of this type.

16. Pivot Joint
Skeletal
System
Pivot joint allows rotation only. In this joint, the rounded surface of one bone fits into
a ring formed by the other bone. Joint between neck and the head is a pivot joint.

17. Gliding Joint
Skeletal
System
Gliding joint allows the bones to glide over each other.
Bones of the wrist and the ankle have gliding joints.

18. This presentation is a result of my experiences while I was
helping out my son with his school assignments and project
work. I am happy to share this with other students and their
parents. Hope you find this informative and useful. Thank you.
- Prashant Mahajan -
All pictures belong to their original authors, photographers.