An adult skeleton has 206 bones. You don't need them all at once: start with the big ones, grouped by region.
Head and trunk
- Skull: the cranium around the brain; the maxilla (upper jaw) and mandible (lower jaw).
- Neck: the hyoid, the only bone that doesn't form a joint with another bone.
- Chest: the sternum in front, 12 pairs of ribs, and the clavicle and scapula at the shoulder.
- Spine: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar vertebrae, then the sacrum and coccyx. Breakfast at 7, lunch at 12, dinner at 5.
Arm and hand
| Region | Bone(s) |
|---|---|
| Upper arm | humerus |
| Forearm | radius (thumb side), ulna (little-finger side) |
| Wrist | 8 carpals |
| Palm | 5 metacarpals |
| Fingers | phalanges |
Leg and foot
The leg follows the same plan as the arm:
| Region | Bone(s) |
|---|---|
| Thigh | femur |
| Knee | patella |
| Lower leg | tibia (shin, big-toe side), fibula (thin, outer side) |
| Ankle | 7 tarsals, including the calcaneus (heel) |
| Foot | 5 metatarsals |
| Toes | phalanges |
Connect it to Unit 1
The word roots you learned name these bones' conditions: oste/o is bone, so osteoporosis is a bone condition; crani/o is the skull, so craniotomy is cutting into the skull. A fracture of the femur is a femoral fracture.
Education only, not medical advice.