The body during sport and exercise

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

The body during exercise and sport.

A guide to how your body works.

In this booklet you will discover the types of joints and movement, the functions of the skeleton, bone growth, and the major bones. This booklet is designed to help you understand the functions of your body, and how they help you in life as well as sport. It is useful to know and understand your body and how it works. I hope that it will help your understanding of exercises and why they are beneficial to keep you fit and healthy.

Contents

In sport and exercise we have to be able to move our bodies, to run, breath, jump, bend and throw, these are just a few actions that we do that need our bodies to be as they are. Our skeleton is designed to be rigid, yet flexible, so we can do these things and many more ensuring us to perform a wide range of activities and functions. It lets us use the same bones in many different ways, we can walk instead of run, we can skip instead of jump, and itch our nose, instead of just drinking, our body means we can do so many different things and we aren’t limited to doing basic things with single movements instead of the vast amount of things we can do.

I hope you find this booklet interesting and useful in your sports and understanding.

The Skeletal System

In the adult skeleton there are 206 bones, these are the 22 main bones:

Axial and Appendicular

The body is known in two parts. These are known as the axial and appendicular. The axial skeleton is the core of your body: the skull, shoulders, chest, and the spine. The appendicular skeleton is all the other bones of the body.

Functions of the Skeleton

Your skeleton is vital to your body and to life; it has five functions, which are all necessary for us to live. They are:

Shape
Protection
Support
Movement
Blood Production
Attachment for skeleton muscle
Stores minerals

The skeleton gives us our shape, if we had no skeleton we would have no shape. Our shape is necessary to our lives and the way we live them.

Protection is needed by the skeleton so the body remains unharmed; if we had no skeleton the body would be vulnerable to harm. The skeleton protects the organs, and keeps them in the right place. Organs are vital to a person’s life and so if the skeleton didn’t protect them, then they would be susceptible to damage.

The skeleton gives the organs and body support.

The skeleton provides movement for the body. Without ...

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The skeleton gives us our shape, if we had no skeleton we would have no shape. Our shape is necessary to our lives and the way we live them.

The skeleton gives the organs and body support.

The skeleton provides movement for the body. Without movement we wouldn’t even be able to do basic things. Movement is created by the muscles and joints of the body. Muscles work in pairs called Antagonistic Pairs, where one muscle contracts whilst the other relaxes.

Some of the bones in your skeleton are responsible for making red and white blood cells; the cancellous bone contains red blood cells, which produces blood, which carries oxygen around the body. The white blood cells, made in yellow bone marrow, fight off infections; if we had no immune system we would be very susceptible to illnesses, and if we had no skeleton, we would have no blood, or white blood cells, so no oxygen would be carried round the body.

Bones

Bones aren’t fully formed when, you are born; they are have large amounts of cartilage. The cartilage is replaced by bone, made through ossification, the process that makes new bone. The bone growth continues through the early years, and also happens again at puberty, until roughly the age of 25, when most of the skeleton has become bone. At the time when the cartilage is changing into bone and the bone is growing, it is susceptible to injury and damage, separation can also happen in extreme cases, which is very painful, if any pain persists it is vital to seek medical advice.

Bones also store minerals. We need the minerals in our bones to strengthen and harden them. As we age the mineral levels decrease, so the strength also decreases, making the elderly more susceptible to breakages, so as we age we need a healthy diet, and life style to maintain bone strength.

There are 206 bones in your body when you are an adult, this is a decreased number from the number you had when you were born. As when babies grow up some of their bones fuse together.

Bone is made up of different areas, the periosteum, compact bone, cancellous bone, the epiphysis, the epiphyseal plate and bone marrow.

The Periosteum is the first layer of the bone; it is a thin layer which contains nerves and blood vessels which feed the bone. The Compact Bone gives bones their rigidity, their hardness, and strength. Cancellous Bone is found in layers, and lies within the Compact Bone, it is not as hard as the Compact Bone, and has a spongy, honeycomb appearance which is tiny pieces of bone called trabeculae. The Bone Marrow is found in the centre of the bone, it is a jelly like substance, and produces red blood cells. The Cancellous Bone in many cases protects the Bone Marrow. Adult bone is made up of 25% water, 30% organic matter and 45% minerals.

The growth of bone takes place from birth to adulthood and happens at the epiphyseal plate, the compact bone between the plates lengthens, which causes the bone to lengthen.

All through you life old bone is broken down by osteoclasts, and is replaced by new bone formed by osteoblasts, this is a process that takes place every day of your life. In later life if the quality of the new bone is not as good as the original quality then it leads to osteoporosis.

Joints

Joints are where bones meet each other, the joint capsules and ligaments hold the bone ends together, whilst tendons attach muscles to bones. There are three main types of joint: synovial, fibrous, and cartilaginous. The most common type of joint is the synovial joint

The main types of movement at synovial joints are:

Extension
Flexion
Adduction
Abduction
Circumduction

Extension is the straightening of the joint, and Flexion is the opposite, the bending of the joint. Movement towards the body is known as Adduction, and away from the body is Abduction. Circumduction is when the joint moves in a circular movement, it can also be known as rotation.

There are also a few other movements demonstrated by the synovial joints, but they are more specific, they are Dorsiflexion, Planterflexion, Inversion, Eversion, Pronation, Supination, and are movements of the hands and feet.

There are six types of synovial joint, each joint offers a different ranges in movement, the ball and socket is has a wide range of movements, compared to the gliding joint, which is very limited.

The six types of synovial joint are:

Ball and Socket
Hinge
Pivot
Condyloid
Saddle
Gliding

The ball and socket offers a large range of movement, extension, abduction, adduction, flexion, circumduction, and is very susceptible to damage because of the range of movement, examples are the hip and shoulder.

Hinge joints are found in the knee, fingers and the elbow; they allow flexion, and extension. The hinge joint means you can bend and straighten limbs.

A pivot joint is found in the neck, it offers rotation, extension and flexion.

The condyloid joint is found in the wrist as well as the ankle; it allows movement in two planes, up, down and side-to-side, extension, flexion, rotation, (in the wrist, pronation, and, supination, in the ankle, plantar flexion, and, Dorsiflexion).

The saddle joint is in the thumbs; they allow movements up and down, extension, flexion, side-to-side, and circumduction movements.

The gliding joints are in the carpals of the hand and foot, which offers a very limited range of movement, the movement is in a gliding motion.

Joints during Sport

Sport and exercise is necessary to be fit and healthy; it is necessary to exercise regularly to keep our muscles and bodies working well. Different muscles are used at different times; it’s the same with joints.

When bowling in cricket, the arm action involved uses the bones, muscles and joints of the arm, shoulder and spine. There is circumduction at the spine to rotate your body, and you use the ball and socket joint in the shoulder, there is circumduction, extension and flexion when you bring your arm around to release the ball. Pronation occurs at the wrist, at the condyloid joint.

The running in hockey uses the ball and socket joint in the hip, the hinge joint in the knee, and the condyloid joint in the ankle. The most used joint would be the ball and socket; it would have flexion, extension, and also circumduction. The hinge joint would have flexion and extension. In the ankle there is plantar flexion, and dorsiflexion, as well as inversion and eversion of the foot, if stopping to hit the ball.

In cycling the leg action, uses the ball and socket, the hinge, and the condyloid joint in the ankle. The ball and socket has extension, flexion, and circumduction. There is flexion and extension happening at the hinge joint and dorsiflextion, Planterflexion, and a very small amount of eversion and inversion.

These are just three examples; all the joints are used most, if not all, of the time.

I hope you find this booklet interesting and informative, it is useful to know about our bodies and how the work. Remember that if you have persistent pain in any part of your body I suggest getting immediate medical advice, and stop doing anything that might affect the area. If you have any questions ask any member of the team and if we don’t already know the answer we will do our best to find out for you.