Anatomy of Bones

What is bone?
Bone is living tissue that makes up the body's skeleton. There are 3
types of bone tissue, including the following:

• Compact tissue. The harder, outer tissue of bones.

• Cancellous tissue. The sponge-like tissue inside bones.
• Subchondral tissue. The smooth tissue at the ends of bones,
which is covered with another type of tissue called cartilage.
Cartilage is the specialized, gristly connective tissue that is
present in adults. It is also the tissue from which most bones
develop in children.
The tough, thin outer membrane covering the bones is called
the periosteum. Beneath the hard outer shell of the periosteum are
tunnels and canals through which blood and lymphatic vessels run to
carry nourishment for the bone. Muscles, ligaments, and tendons may
attach to the periosteum.
Bones are classified by their shape—as long, short, flat, and irregular.
Primarily, they are referred to as long or short.
There are 206 bones in the human skeleton, not including teeth and
sesamoid bones (small bones found within cartilage):
• 80 axial bones. This includes the head, facial, hyoid, auditory,
trunk, ribs, and sternum.
• 126 appendicular bones. This includes arms, shoulders, wrists,
hands, legs, hips, ankles, and feet.
What are the functions of bone?
Bone provides shape and support for the body, as well as protection for
some organs. Bone also serves as a storage site for minerals and
provides the medium—marrow—for the development and storage of
blood cells.
Bone Types
There are different types of bone. These are:
• Long bones
• Short bones
• Flat bones
• Sesamoid bones
• Irregular bones
Bone types: This image show the different bone classifications, based
on shape, that are found in a human skeleton. These are flat bone,
sutural bone, short bone, irregular, sesamoid bone, and long bone.
Long Bones
Long bone: A long bone is longer than it is wide. Growth occurs by a
lengthening of the diaphysis. located in the center of the long bone.
Long bones grow primarily by elongation of the diaphysis (the central
shaft), with an epiphysis at each end of the growing bone. The ends of
epiphyses are covered with hyaline cartilage (articular cartilage). At the
cessation of growth, the epiphyses fuse to the diaphysis, thus
obliterating the intermediate area known as the epiphyseal plate or
growth plate. The long bones in the body are as follows:
• Legs: The femur, tibia, and fibula.
• Arms: The humerus, radius, and ulna.
• The clavicles or collar bones.
• Metacarpals, metarsals, phalanges.
The outside of the bone consists of a layer of connective tissue called
the periosteum. The outer shell of the long bone is compact bone, below
which lies a deeper layer of cancellous bone (spongy bone), as shown
in the following figure. The interior part of the long bone is called the
medullary cavity; the inner core of the bone cavity is composed of
marrow.
Short Bones
Short bones are about as wide as they are long. These provide support
with less movement. Examples of short bones include the carpal and
tarsal bones of the wrist and feet. They consist of a thin layer of cortical
bone with cancellous interiorly.
Compact bone and spongy bone: The hard outer layer of bones is
composed of compact bone tissue, so-called due to its minimal gaps
and spaces. Its porosity is 5–30%. Inside the interior of the bone is the
trabecular bone tissue, an open cell, porous network that is also called
cancellous or spongy bone.
Flat Bones
Flat bones are broad bones that provide protection or muscle
attachment. They are composed of two thin layers of compact bone
surrounding a layer of cancellous (spongy) bone.
These bones are expanded into broad, flat plates, as in the cranium
(skull), ilium (pelvis), sternum, rib cage, sacrum, and scapula. The flat
bones are named:
• Occipital
• Parietal
• Frontal
• Nasal
• Lacrimal
 • Vomer
• Scapula
• Os coxæ (hip bone)
• Sternum
• Ribs
Sesamoid Bone
Sesamoid bones are smaller bones that are fixed in tendons to protect
them. An example is the patella (knee cap) located in the patellar
tendon. Other examples include the small bones of the metatarsals and
the pisiform bones of the carpus.
Irregular Bone
The irregular bones are named for their nonuniform shape. Examples
include the bones of the vertebrae. These typically have a thin cortical
layer with more cancellous bone in their tissue.