Bones: How Many Are There?

I don't think about my bones on a daily basis.  They don't hurt, so I don't pay much attention to them.  They simply work the way they were designed to work, and I'm happy enough to let them.  But in taking some time to give appreciation to just how many of them are working, here's some interesting numbers.

 First, let's take time to appreciate how many there are: 206!  The number sometimes differs depending on the counting method of whether a single bone has multiple parts or if the same structure is multiple bones.  And then, of course, some people are born with more or less. Let's just use 206.

There are 26 bones in your foot with 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 different muscles and tendons working to create movement.  Pretty amazing, right! So, for both feet, that makes 52 bones, about 1/4 of the total amount you have.

There are 27 bones in your hands with 15 joints, 126 ligaments, and 34 muscles and tendons. Next time you see someone playing the piano, you'll be even more amazed, right?

There are 28 bones in your skull and that makes me think of just that bony structure around my brain, but don't forget about the 14 facial bones and the 6 tiny bones in your ears!

There are (usually) 26 vertebra.  Some people get an extra one!  Your neck has 7 cervical vertebra, then there are the 12 thoracic, then the 5 lumbar, then the 5 fused sacrum, followed by the 4 fused coccyx vertebra.  We can't forget about the 1 little horse-shoe shaped hyoid bone (the lingual bone) on the anterior (front) side of your neck! 

Okay, on to the ribs!  There are (usually) 24 ribs and we have to include those bones that support the ribs: the sternum (breast bone), the 2 clavicles, (collar bones), and the 2 scapula (the shoulder blades.) So, that makes 29.

The pelvis has 3 fused bones called the coxal bone.

That leaves the long bones of your arms and legs to make up the final total of 206!


Remember, too, that bones are much more than a number.  The adult human skeleton system provides structure, stability, assistance in movement, protection for organs, storage of minerals and the production of various blood cells.  Bones are living tissue! But that's a discussion for another day!

Fun Facts:

• Bones account for about 14% of your total body weight.
• Bones consist of about 50% water and 50% solid matter with tons of living cells throughout.
• Over half of your bones are in your hands and feet.
• The ribs move about 5 million times in a year, each time we breathe.
• The giraffe has the same number of neck bones as a human.
• The longest bone is the femur (thigh bone) and is about 1/4 of your height.
• The femur is the strongest bone and it's hollow.
• The smallest bone is the stapes (stirrup) in your middle ear and measures about 1/10 of an inch.
• There are no muscles inside the fingers!  The muscles that bend the fingers are in the palm and up in the forearm.  Your fingers are moved like the strings of a marionette by tendons! (I know this isn't a bone fact, but I couldn't resist putting it in!)
• A newborn infant has about 270 skeletal components that leave room for growth and later fuse together to create the 206.
• Every second, our bone marrow produces about 2 million red blood cells.
• Slowly over a period of about 7 years, each bone in our body is broken down and rebuilt until it is a new bone. 
• Bone is stronger than steel and reinforced concrete.  One cubic inch of bone can withstand a load of about 19,000 pounds (8,262 kilograms), which is about the weight of 5 standard-sized pick-up trucks.

Sources:  

• Steele, D. Gentry; Claud A. Bramblett (1988). The Anatomy and Biology of the Human Skeleton. Texas A&M University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-89096-300-2. 
• Katja Hoehn; Marieb, Elaine Nicpon (2007). Human Anatomy & Physiology (7th Edition). San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. ISBN 0-8053-5909-5 
• Bryan H. Derrickson; Tortora, Gerard J. (2005). Principles of anatomy and physiology. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-68934-3.