The Musculoskeletal System

Your skeleton is a collection of over 200 bones that give your body its shape and structure. In between adjacent bones you have joints, and holding the joints together, are ligaments. These are what gives your body support, protects your vital organs, and allows for the foundation around which movement occurs.

The skeletal system is a static structure on its own. However, when you add muscles you create a dynamic, functional musculoskeletal system capable of performing work, maintaining an upright posture, transporting your body from one place to another, and allowing for personal expression using language and gestures.

With few exceptions (like the movement of the eye or tongue), a muscle attaches to two separate bones. As it contracts and shortens, the muscle creates relative movement of these bones by bringing the two ends of the muscle closer together. The coordination of muscles turning off and on allow for the complete range of human performance. Examples include the powerful, explosive movements created by a sprinter’s legs, or the delicate, intricate finger movements of a professional violinist. This coordination is facilitated by a constant loop of feedback messages among the muscles, the nerves and the brain.