In the information age, a question is never too small to be
asked. How many bones are in the human body? When and where did all the bones
come from?
Bones come from two basic sources. One comes from the hip bone
and the other from the pelvis. The hip bone in particular has twenty-eight
bones, all of which are known as trochanter. These bones articulate to allow
movement around the body.
Many animals have fewer than this number of bones. In fact, many
insects have only a few pairs of legs. So it is possible that the human beings
were once much more like an insect.
The hip bone and the pelvis also contain about thirty-one bones,
but all of these are known as the femur, tibia, fibula, and so on. For reasons
that will be discussed, the adult body contains roughly two hundred and
sixty-six bones. Although the human population has grown somewhat since the
birth of Christ, our numbers of bones continue to grow.
No one really knows when childhood bones are formed. We know
that in the beginning, they are entirely aquatic. However, with each
development through childhood, they expand.
While the quest for how many bones in the body remains, most
people do not realize that the term 'bones' also includes the parts of the
spine and vertebrae. There are the sternum, which is the wall of the chest.
Then there is the ilium, which is the wall of the pelvis. Then there is the
pubis, which is the area between the ribs. Finally, there is the acromion,
which is the ridge where the pelvis meets the scapula.
Each of these parts of the body has a group of six or seven
bones in which the bones are joined to each other by means of a series of
joints. Sometimes the joints are hard and stiff and sometimes they are
flexible. They make up a part of the skeleton and they also make up the bones
in the body.
You may wonder if there are any bones on the exterior of the
body. This is true, but they are called the soft tissues, or the skin. There
are ten sets of vertebrae and these sets are known as the thoracic vertebrae.
The ribs are known as the thoracic vertebrae.
This information gives us the answer to the question of how many
bones are in the human body. One hundred and eighty-four bones make up our
skeleton.
We are basically comprised of three bones; the collarbone, which
are the top of the skull; the humerus, which are the top of the upper arm bone;
and the radius, which is the bottom of the lower arm bone. Of course, the skull
also has a series of bones known as the ethmoid, sagittal, frontal, parietal,
temporal, and occipital bones.
In summary, the human body consists of all bones and vertebrae
that are recognized. There are variations in the skeletal system between one
individual and another.
