Joints

    This week you will be learning about joints.   We began to talk about them today in lab... at least a little bit.  Now it is time to study them in lecture.  You see, you have already learned about bones themselves, how they develop, their recovery after damage, and their functions (support, protection, inorganic salt storage).  In lab you are learning to identify the bones of the body; we still have another week in lab to work on that.  All that is left to learn about the way bones work is the way that they articulate with one another.   That's your job for this week!

Joints can be categorized in two main ways:

1. by the type of tissue that comprises them

2. by their mobility

Both categorization schemes are important.  Unfortunately, they do not fit perfectly into one overall scheme.  So, it is important for you to learn each separately, and then to go back and check to make sure you understand the way they overlap.  Each has a separate web page within this unit.

    Regardless of the classification scheme used, some joints are freely mobile.  If they are freely mobile [called either diarthrotic (based on mobility) or synovial (based on tissue structure)] they have many different ways that they could move.   For example, you can rotate your hands freely about your wrists, but your knuckles can only bend in one plane.  As you might expect by now, there is a term you will need to learn for each type of movement.  I have written a separate web page in this unit, "synovial joint movement," that dives into this point.

    Your book includes an entire section of terminology on joint movement ("Types of Joint Movements" on pp. 262 - 266) and another section highlighting particular joints ("Examples of Synovial Joints" on pp. 268 - 275).  We will NOT be covering all of that in lecture.  Instead, we will be working on the joint movement terminology in lab, and also focussing on a few specific joints in lab.

© 2011 STCC Foundation Press
written by Dawn A. Tamarkin, Ph.D.