Your Amazing Inner Framework: The Skeleton

Try this right now: gently press the back of your hand. Can you feel something hard underneath your skin? That hardness is bone. Now hold your arm out straight — what stops your hand from flopping to the ground? Your bones are working right this second to hold you up. How many bones do you think are in your whole body? Have a guess before we find out the answer!

Your skeleton is the full set of all the bones inside your body. An adult human has 206 bones, but babies are born with around 270 — some bones join together as you grow! Bones are hard on the outside and slightly spongy on the inside, which makes them both strong and light. The skeleton has three main jobs: 1. SUPPORT — Your skeleton is like a frame inside a building. Without it, your body would collapse like a bag of jelly. Your spine, which is the long column of bones running down your back, holds you upright. 2. PROTECTION — Some bones act like armour for the soft organs inside you. Your skull is a tough dome of bone that protects your brain. Your ribcage is a curved cage of bones that protects your heart and lungs. 3. MOVEMENT — Bones work together with muscles to let you run, jump, and write. The place where two bones meet is called a joint. Your knee and elbow are joints. Muscles pull on bones across joints to create movement. Bones also make blood cells deep inside them, in a soft material called bone marrow. This is a bonus fourth job that keeps you healthy. You can observe your skeleton working right now: stand up, then sit down. Feel your hip joint moving. Bend your finger and watch the knuckle joints bend. Your skeleton is always busy!