As a chiropractor, my life revolves around the skeleton, the muscles, and the way that the human body moves. Both in school and afterward I have learned some fun facts about the human skeleton that I would love to share!
A newborn baby has roughly 300 bones, while the adult has only 206
How cool is it that our skeletons change so much as we grow up?! Bones fuse together as we age AND new bones are formed (like your kneecap) when little ones start to crawl.
The bones of your skull actually have joints with one another
These joints move when you breath, chew, and with the movement of your cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that bathes the brain). This means that, as a chiropractor, I often work with the bones of the skull to influence sinuses and help people with migraines.
Babies with plagiocephaly (bulges or flat spots on their skulls) also benefit from chiropractic work with the skull!
The smallest bone in your body is located within the hardest bone!
The smallest bone in your body, the stapes, is shaped like a stirrup and is a bone that helps you hear. It is so small and delicate that it needs
a lot of protection. It is located in the most dense and strongest part of the temporal bone in the skull.
You have the same number of bones in your neck as a giraffe
Giraffes and humans both have 7 cervical bones in their necks. They are just very differently shaped! A giraffe’s neck is so long that it cannot cough like a human can because its lungs and epiglottis are too far apart to coordinate.
The hyoid bone is the only bone not connected to another bone by a joint
This bone is a delicate horse shoe shape and it sits in front of your neck. Many muscles connect to the hyoid bone, but it is not shown on most plastic skeletons.
Your femur, or thigh bone is the longest bone in your body
It is also one of the strongest bones of the body. This is because it supports our body weight in running and jumping.
There are 54 bones in each of your hands
This means that 108 of your 206 bones are contained in just 2 body parts! As a chiropractor, working on the wrists, elbows, and neck can help relieve symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Do you have a fun fact about the skeleton that you would love to share?
Comment below and let us know what you think!
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