How bone tissue, long bones, joints, and the axial and appendicular skeleton fit together, the framework the HESI A2 anatomy and physiology subtest tests hardest in this unit.
ObjectiveA.2.2Read6 minExam weightSupport and Movement ≈ 24% of Anatomy & Physiology
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You can name the functions of the skeletal system and explain why bone is a living, active tissue rather than an inert scaffold.
You can label the parts of a long bone and describe how compact and spongy bone differ in structure and location.
You can classify a joint by its structure and its range of motion, and place a given bone in the axial or appendicular skeleton.
What the lesson concludes
The skeletal system supports the body, protects organs, stores minerals, produces blood cells in red marrow, and gives muscles something to pull against.
Compact bone is dense and forms the outer shell of every bone; spongy bone is a lighter lattice of trabeculae found at the ends of long bones and inside flat bones.
Osteoblasts build bone, osteocytes maintain it, and osteoclasts break it down, a constant remodeling cycle that keeps bone strong and lets it repair after a fracture.
Synovial joints are classified by shape and movement: hinge, pivot, ball and socket, saddle, gliding, and condylar.
The axial skeleton is the skull, vertebral column, and ribcage; the appendicular skeleton is the limbs and the girdles that attach them.