OUR FANTASTIC TRIO

Do you know what holds you up right on your feet? You might think it’s gravity but it’s your bones, muscles and cartilage. This trio works together all the time. Today I am going to explain you what is a bone made of, what happens when you break one, how many bones you have, what cartilage is for and why the muscles are super important.

Let’s start with numbers! An adult has 206 bones, but for a newborn things are different. They have 300 separate bones! As babies grow, some of these bones join together and become super strong. Some of them are for holding everything together, and some of them have jobs like protecting important organs like your rib cage that protects inner organs, your very tick skull that protects your brain from damage, etc.

So, what are bones made of? A bone is made from protein collagen minerals, mostly calcium. Inside bones, there are parts like compact bone, osteons, and bone marrow, which all have different jobs. When a bone breaks, the body sends out signals for special cells to come to the injured area. Some of these special cells cause the injured area to become inflamed red, swollen, and painful. This tells the body to stop using the injured part, so it can heal. It’s actually your body trying to fix itself! Hold your nose now, move it right to left. What about your ears? Can you bend them, too? That stuff isn’t bone. That is called cartilage. It’s strong enough to maintain the shape but flexible enough to bend. Cartilage is not only found in your nose and ears, it’s almost everywhere in your body. Cartilage is also in your joints like wrists, arms and legs, helping your bones move smoothly.

Then, we have muscles, which are honestly doing the most. Muscles are also a very important part of the system. They are pieces of soft tissue throughout our bodies. They help you do anything from holding your body still to running a marathon. Muscles also support our organs. Our hearts are actually a muscle, too! A hard-working one. It beats thousands of times a day to keep us alive.

To sum up, we see that this trio is really hardworking! They are dream team. None of them can do the job alone. The bones provide the frame, the muscles provide the power and and the cartilage help them work smoothly. We need to take good care of it. We can keep it healthy by eating good food and staying active but not pushing it too hard.

(images from Pixabay)