Body Joints

Introduction

Body Movement is necessary for living beings to engage in the environment and adjust accordingly. The body joints are responsible for our movement. The joints along with our brain, made it possible that we’ve become bipedal from quadrupedal. Not just training, the joints are responsible for the skeleton also.

What are Joints?

The link which makes movement or joins two bones is a joint. Different joints, along with their properties, decide the mobility and the degree.

Locomotion is the term to describe the movement of a body from one place to another. Structural stability aids in the body’s movement. The stability comes from the vertebral system.

The body joints help us rotate or move various parts like arms, shoulders, neck turning etc.

Types of Joints in The Human Body

 Body joints is as follows:

• Functional Joint: how much motion is provided by the joint
• Structural Joint: what type of tissue is involved in joining the bones

Functional Joints

They are of three types:

• Diarthroses or freely movable joints-these joints have maximum mobility and the limbs carry the most
• Synarthrosis or immovable joint- these joints offer no mobility and the joint is strongly bonded between the bones. They are responsible for protecting organs such as the cranium outside the brain
• Amphiarthrosis or slightly movable joints- these joints are responsible for the movement of the vertebral column

Structural Joints

These body joints are subdivided into three categories:

• Cartilaginous Joints- these joints come into play when the connection requires cartilage. The synchondrosis joints( cartilaginous joint) are the joints present in children that remain until puberty
• Fibrous Joints- they are found at the rigid bones. A good example would be the cranial joint. This joint is located at the rib cage, upper jawbone and  medial malleolus etc. Fibrous joints are divided into three types:

1. Syndesmosis
2. Sutures
3. Gomphosis

• Synovial Joints- these joints are responsible for most of our body’s motion, such as running, writing, picking things and typing etc. They provide maximum mobility and rotatory motion

The Joints of a Human Body

If one needs the functional categorization, they’ll have to look into the degree of mobility permitted by the joint. Apart from the mobility factor, the extent of exercise pursued by the joints assists in narrowing down to a category. The joint body type is divided into six categories, with shape and structure being the deciding factors:

•  Ball and socket joints
• Condyloid joints
• Pivot Joints
• Hinge Joint
• Saddle Joint
• Gliding Joint

• Ball and Socket Joints-If one bone is encased in another bone’s hollow part, you’ve got the ball and socket joints—this kind of joint assists the human in performing rotatory movements. One example of ball and socket joints is Elbows
• Pivotal Joints-When one skull is implanted in another one, in a position that a 360° rotation isn’t possible, but this joint will help on sideways and the pendulum movement
• Hinge Joints-These joints are very similar to the hinges we see on the doors, which can only move back and forward. The hinge joints are found under the domain of the synovial joints. The synovial joints work very akin to the limb bones; wherein two joints are merely sliding against each other

Instances Of Hinge Joint 

The hip, shoulder and upper limb, are some examples of hinge joints. A hinge joint is a joint that includes two bones aiding in a singular plane of movement. For instance, the human toes and knees have hinge joints.

• Saddle Joints- The biaxial joint is responsible for the action in two directions: the extensor and the armed robbery. The skeletal system has a solo example of a saddle joint, which is the thumb
• Condyloid Joints- These kinds of joints come with two axes and enable bodily movement upward, downwards and diagonally too. Examples of condyloid joints are the wrist carpal, the base of the human thumb, the forefinger, the upper arms and the smooth rotation made by our wrists. One can also call them a parabolic joint
• Gliding joints- The gliding joint is another popular synovial joint that everyone talks about. One can also lookup for their aliases, referred to as horizontal or planar joints. The reason behind their popularity is that these joints allow two or more ring-shaped movements flatly. And these movements can occur without any scratching feeling whatsoever

Looking for the gliding joints, are most commonly found when two bones come in contact and drift in any direction. The most frequently encountered gliding joints are the lower leg ankle joint and the forearm wrist joint.

Conclusion

Different living beings have other locomotive mechanisms. And they use various means; for instance, humans use their legs, whereas birds use their wings. Also, our brain and joints take the most credit for bringing us to be bipedal from quadrupedal.