The Skeleton is the name given to the collection of bones that holds the rest of our body up. Our skeleton is very important to us. It does three major jobs.
- It protects our vital organs such as the brain, the heart and the lungs.
- It gives us the shape that we have. Without our skeleton, we would just be a blob of blood and tissue on the floor.
- It allows us to move. Because our muscles are attached to our bones, when our muscles move, they move the bones, and we move.
When you were born, your skeleton had around 350 bones. By the time you become an adult, you will only have around 206 bones. This is because, as you grow, some of the bones join together to form one bone.
Our bones don't simply work on their own. The bones join together to form joints. The end of each bone is covered by a tough, smooth shiny substance called cartilage. The cartilage-coated bone-ends are kept apart by a thin film of slippery fluid. All of this is so your bones won't scratch and bump against each other when you move. Our bones are held together by strong stretchy bands called ligaments
