Question

How many short bones are in the body?

Answer 1

Hint: Bone is a type of connective tissue that constitutes the framework of the human skeleton. It is a rigid organ that provides support and structure to the body.

Complete answer:
Bones are the mineralized connective tissue that is made up of calcium and bone cells. It has four types of cells- Osteoblasts, Osteoclasts, Osteocytes, and bone lining cells. Bones form the internal framework of the human body- the human skeleton. The framework gives shape and structure to the body, allows it movement, and provides protection to various organs in our body. An adult human skeleton consists of 206 bones.

The human skeleton can be broadly divided into two categories- Axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton has 80 bones from the head and trunk. It has 22 skull bones, 3 pairs of occipital bones of the middle ear, 12 pairs of the rib cage bones, one hyoid bone, one sternum, and 26 bones of the cervical vertebrae. The appendicular skeleton system has 126 bones from the limbs and the pectoral and pelvic girdle. It has 2 clavicles and 2 scapula bones in the pectoral girdle, and the pelvic girdle has 2 fused bones called the hip bone. The upper limb contains one humerus, one radius, one ulna, 8 carpals, 5 metacarpals, and 14 phalanges in each limb. The lower limb contains one femur, one tibia, one fibula, one patela, 7 tarsals, 5 metatarsals, and 14 phalanges in each limb.

Based on their shape, bones can be categorized into 6 categories. They are- long bones, short bones, flat bones, irregular bones, sutural bones, and sesamoid bones.
The short bones are the bones that are roughly equal in their width and length and appear cube-shaped.

The thickness of the bones is also almost equal to their length and width. They are mostly made up of spongy tissues. A thin layer of compact bone covers the spongy bone in their structure. The main functions of these bones are to provide stability and support. They also provide strength to the joints. They offer little or no movement. The short bones are found in the wrist and ankles of the body. The kneecap is also considered a short bone. The total number of short bones in our body are- 32 (2+16+14). This includes two kneecap or patella, 8 wrist bones or carpals in both the hands (scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, hamate, pisiform, capitate, trapezoid, and trapezium), 7 tarsals of ankle bones in both the legs (calcaneus, talus, navicular, cuboid, lateral cuneiform, intermediate cuneiform, and medial cuneiform).
The patella is often considered as a sesamoid bone.

Note: The long bones in our body have greater length and short width. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the body and provide movement to the limbs. The number of long bones in the body is 86- and includes mostly the bones of the appendicular skeleton.