A door swings on a hinge, a key turns in a lock, a ball spins in a socket.
Your joints work just like these everyday machines.
Let us meet the different types of joints in the body.
- A joint is a place where two or more bones meet.
- Joints let the bones move, so we can bend, turn and rotate different parts of the body.
- Without joints the skeleton would be one stiff piece and we could not move at all.
- Joints also hold the bones together and give the body its shape.
- Joints only allow movement โ they cannot move the bones on their own; the muscles do that.
| Joint name | Where found | Type of movement |
|---|---|---|
| Ball and socket joint | Shoulder, hip | Moves in all directions |
| Hinge joint | Elbow, knee | Bends in one direction only |
| Pivot joint | Neck (joins the skull to the backbone) | Turns the head side to side |
| Fixed joint | Skull | No movement |