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How many joints are in the body? |
Inside the Body
Can you touch your elbow with the hand of your other arm? Now keep that hand on your elbow and bend, then straighten your arm. Do you feel the motion? The place where your upper and lower arm meet is a joint. In fact, a joint is where two bones come together, and you have many joints throughout your body!
But just how many are there? The answer: depending on who you ask, somewhere between 200 and 350! Why can’t we be more specific?! Because the number of bones (and therefore joints) you have depends on your age. After all, when you were a baby, you had 300 bones, but by the time you grow up, that number will be 206—some of the bones will have fused together.
Also, the answer may change depending on how the word “joint” is defined. If a joint is simply where bones meet, then do we count the “joints” where the bony plates of your skull come together? After all, these bones are permanently joined in a way that makes the skull seem more like one piece than a collection of bones and joints!
While we may not know the exact number of joints we have, learning the range of possibilities helps us to better understand how our amazing body machine works!
Carefully bend your fingers and toes. Where do the bones in these body parts meet? At joints called knuckles! Can you find other joints in your body?
