Joints and Body Movements

Our bone tissues are made of a much harder substance than the cartilage, but they can be worn away by friction. They are tough on the outside, but on the inside they have a sponge-like design that helps to reduce the weight while retaining strength. They are designed to maintain the body’s structure and support the body’s movement and are used to protect weaker tissues, such as the brain, lungs and heart.

A ligament is a group of dense regular connective tissue made of collagenous fibres which are protected by dense connective tissue sheaths. Ligaments connect one bone to another bones to form joints. The also provide joint stability and prevent movement that might damage a joint.

Ligaments connect the bones located within the knee joint. Damage to the ligament may affect stability after first affecting mobility. The knee may become less and less capable of sustaining a normal amount of weight.

58) Connective tissues that possess a large quantity of collagen fibers often provide the framework for organs such

3. Describe the primary functions of each type of body tissue and give examples of each.

Progression of osteoarthritis involves of three stages. Stage 1 start from cartilage matrix breakdown follow by cartilage fibrillation and erosion. Disease continues to progress to stage three where synovial inflammation started. With inflamed synovial, synovial membrane produced cytokines, particularly inflammatory cytokines and growth factors which both able to diffuse through synovial fluid and enter the cartilage. This will activates pro-inflammatory cytokines (Pelletier et al, 1999).In short, cartilage breakdown or degrade will lead erosion and release pro-inflammatory cytokine which in turn contribute to joint destruction. In an osteoarthritis knee, Examples of pro-inflammatory cytokines are interleukin-1, IL-1 and tumour necrosis factor alpha, TNF-α.

Figure 8.1 Using Figure 8.1, match the following: 1) Periosteum. Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251; Fig. 8.3 2) Articular cartilage. Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251; Fig. 8.3 3) Joint (synovial) cavity. Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251; Fig. 8.3 4) Synovial membrane. Answer: E Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251; Fig. 8.3

The periosteum is also a connective tissue composed of an outer fibrous layer of dense irregular tissue and an inner osteogenic layer. The periosteum protects and repairs the bone while also enabling tendons and ligaments to form an attachment with the underlying bone. (Tortora and Derrickson, 2011).

Ligament - Ligaments determine how much the joints can move so each joint is stabilized.

1. How do bones, cartilage, muscles and joints work together to enable movement and locomotion for the human body? (make sure to mention how they all work together, give specific examples)

The gradual wear and tear that is put on the joints of our human body causes cartilage to begin to gradually

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease characterized by a fragmentation and erosion of the articular cartilage, which becomes soft, frayed and thinned with alteration of the subchondral bone. It also characterized by the hypertrophy of the bone, changes accompanied by pain and stiffness which finally leads to loss of

A joint is the site where two skeletal elements connect(1). Joints can be classified by both structure and function. Structural classifications are based on the type of connective tissue binding the structures together and whether a joint capsule is present(2, 3). There are three structural classifications of joints; fibrous, cartilaginous and synovial. Functional classifications are based on the amount of movement present(2). There are three functional classifications of joints; synarthroses which are immobile, amphiarthroses which are slightly mobile, and diarthroses which are freely mobile(3).

Arthritis is the general term used whenever there is inflammation in the joints. Osteoarthritis, therefore, causes a breakdown of joint cartilage. It is the most common form of arthritis and can occur in virtually any joint of the body. It frequently affects those joints that bear the most weight throughout our lives – knees, hips, and spine. However, it can also create damage in the neck, fingers, and thumbs.

Support - our skeleton provides shape and support to our body which gives our body its shape, without this function our body would simply collapse.