BIOMECHANICS I

BME 314
3. REVIEW OF THE
PHYSIOLOGY (FUNCTIONS)
OF THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
DR. O.A. ADELEYE
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS
 THE
SKELETAL
SYSTEM
The purpose of the
skeletal system (see
Figure 2) is both
• To provide a
rigid system of
links, the bones,
for the
attachment of
muscles and the
basis of
movement and
• To protect the
internal organs.
FIGURE 2 Major bones and in the human skeleton.
(A) Anterior; (B) posterior.
 THE SKELETAL
SYSTEM:
• There are more than 200
bones in the human body
of various sizes, shapes, and
mechanical properties.
• Interestingly, these
characteristics can change
dramatically in response to
external stressors and, thus,
living bones can be very
dynamic in Skeletal
systems.
BIOMECHANICS OF SKELETAL
DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
 BIOMECHANICS OF SKELETAL
DYNAMIC SYSTEMS

There are various Undergraduate and

Postgraduate projects on providing
Solutions to biomechanical models of
body tissue deformation dynamics,
skeletal systems dynamics etc.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE
SKELETAL
SYSTEM
• Mechanical functions
- Support
- Movement
- Protection
• Physiological functions
-Blood production
-Maintaining calcium
-metabolism
 FUNCTIONS OF THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS
• Support, Movement, and Protection
• Some functions of the skeletal system are more readily observable than
others. When you move you can feel how your bones support you,
facilitate your movement, and protect the soft organs of your body.
• Just as the steel beams of a building provide a scaffold to support its
weight, the bones and cartilages of your skeletal system compose the
scaffold that supports the rest of your body.
• Without the skeletal system, you would be a limp mass of organs, muscle,
and skin.
• Bones facilitate movement by serving as points of attachment for your
muscles.
• Bones also protect internal organs from injury by covering or surrounding
them. For example, your ribs protect your lungs and heart, the bones of
your vertebral column (spine) protect your spinal cord, and the bones of
your cranium (skull) protect your brain
 FUNCTIONS OF THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
• Mineral and Fat Storage, Blood Cell Formation
• On a metabolic level (metabolism - chemical reactions in the body's
cells that change food into energy), bone tissue performs several
critical functions.
• For one, the bone tissue acts as a reservoir for a number of minerals
important to the functioning of the body, especially calcium, and
phosphorus.
• These minerals, incorporated into bone tissue, can be released back
into the bloodstream to maintain levels needed to support
physiological processes.
• Calcium ions, for example, are essential for muscle contractions
and are involved in the transmission of nerve impulses.
 FUNCTIONS OF THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS
• Bones also serve as a site for fat storage and blood cell production.
• The unique connective tissue that fills the interior of most bones is
referred to as bone marrow.
• There are two types of bone marrow: yellow bone marrow and red
bone marrow.
• Yellow bone marrow contains adipose tissue, and the triglycerides
stored in the adipocytes of this tissue can be released to serve as a
source of energy for other tissues of the body.
• Red bone marrow is where the production of blood cells (named
hematopoiesis, hemato- = “blood”, -poiesis = “to make”) takes
place. Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets are all
produced in the red bone marrow.
 FIVE TYPES OF BONES

• Long: Long bones are longer than they are wide and are the major
bones of the limbs.
• Short: Short bones are about as long as they are wide and are often
cubed or round in shape.
• Flat: Flat bones vary greatly in size and shape, but have the
common feature of being very thin in one direction.
• Irregular: Irregular shape bones have varying shapes, sizes and
weights.
• Sesamoid: Bones that protects the tendon from stresses and strains
at the joint and can help to give a mechanical advantage to muscles
pulling on the tendon.
 FIVE TYPES OF BONES CONT.

• Other sesamoid bones can

form in the joints of the hands
and feet.
FIVE TYPES OF BONES CONT.

• The Patella and the Pisiform

bone of the carpals are the
only sesamoid bones that are
counted as part of the 206
bones of the body.
 FUNCTION OF SOME FORMS OF
BONES
• Ear bones
• Transmit sound -> should not
deform easily
• Protected by the skull ->
need not be strong
• Leg bones
• Support the weight of the
animal -> must be stiff
• Antlers
• Used to fight -> need to
bend during a clash
BONE AS A COMPOSITE MATERIAL
Composite: thing
made up of several
parts or elements

Bone material:
• Water (50%),
collagen and
hydroxyapatite.
• Collagen : a
fibrous protein
• Hydroxyapatite:
crystals
 COMPOSITION OF BONE
• The composition of bone varies with age,
sex, type of bone, type of bone tissue, and
the presence of bone disease.
• Bone in human and other mammal bodies
is generally classified into two types
• Cortical bone, also known as Compact bone
and
• Cancellous or spongy bone, also known as
Trabecular bone
• These two types are classified on the
basis of porosity and the unit
microstructure
Sectional view of a whole bone showing
cortical and cancellous tissues
 COMPOSITION OF BONE

• The Cortical or compact bone tissue is a

dense material forming the outer shell
(cortex) of bones and the diaphysial region
of long bones.
• The Cancellous, Trabecular, or Spongy
Bone tissue consists of thin plates
(trabeculae) in a loose mesh structure that
is enclosed by the cortical bone.
• Bones are surrounded by a dense fibrous
membrane called the Periosteum.
• The Periosteum covers the entire bone
except for the joint surfaces that are
covered with articular cartilage. Sectional view of a whole bone showing
cortical and cancellous tissues
 STRUCTURE OF BONE

• A long bone has two main regions:

the diaphysis and the epiphysis
• The diaphysis is the hollow, tubular
shaft that runs between the proximal
and distal ends of the bone.
• Inside the diaphysis is the medullary
cavity, which is filled with yellow bone
marrow in an adult.
• The outer walls of the diaphysis
(cortex, cortical bone) are composed
of dense and hard compact bone, a
form of osseous tissue.. Anatomy of a Long Bone:
A typical long bone showing gross
anatomical features.
 STRUCTURE OF BONE

• The Epiphysis
• The wider section at each end of the
bone is called the epiphysis (plural =
epiphyses), which is filled internally
with spongy bone, another type of
osseous tissue.
• Red bone marrow fills the spaces
between the spongy bone in some long
bones.
• Each epiphysis meets the diaphysis at
the metaphysis.
 STRUCTURE OF BONE
TYPES OF BONES / BONE TISSUES
• Compact bone tissue forms the extremely hard outside layer of bones.
Compact bone tissue gives bone its smooth, dense, solid appearance. It
accounts for about 80% of the total bone mass of the adult skeleton.
• Spongy bone tissue fills part or all of the interior of many bones. As its
name suggests, spongy bone is porous like a sponge, containing an
irregular network of spaces. This makes spongy bone much less dense than
compact bone. Spongy bone has a greater surface area than compact bone,
but makes up only 20% of bone mass.

Structural Regions of Bones

performing unique functions.
 STRUCTURE OF BONE
OTHER BONE TISSUES

• Bones consist of different types of tissue, including compact bone,

spongy bone, bone marrow, and periosteum. All of these tissue
types are shown in Figure below.
• Bone marrow is a soft connective tissue that produces blood cells.
It is found inside the pores of spongy bone.
• Periosteum is a tough, fibrous membrane that covers and protects
the outer surfaces of bone.
BONE MATERIAL PROPERTIES

* The old bone can

withstand only ½ of
the strain that the
young bone can.
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BONE

• Stress:
• Mechanical stress is symbolized with the Greek letter
sigma (𝜎) and is defined as the force per unit area
within a material (𝜎 = F/A).
• Mechanical stress is similar to the concept of pressure
and has the same units (N/𝑚2 and lbs/𝑖𝑛2 ).
• In the SI system one Newton per meter squared is one
Pascal (Pa) of stress or pressure.
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BONE
CONT.
• Strain
• The measure of the deformation of a material created
by a load is called strain.
• This deformation is usually expressed as a ratio of
• the normal or resting length (𝐿𝑜 ) of the material.
• Strain (𝜖) can be calculated as a change in length
divided by normal length:
(𝐿– 𝐿𝑜 )/ 𝐿𝑜 .
 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BONE
CONT.
• Viscoelasticity
• Viscoelastic means that the stress and strain in a material are
dependent on the rate of loading, so the timing of the force
application affects the strain response of the material.

Figure 1 illustrates the response

of a ligament that is stretched to
a set length at two speeds, slow
and fast. Note that a high rate of
stretch results in a higher
stiffness than a slow stretch.

• Load–deformation curves for tendon stretched at a fast and a slow

rate to the same length as shown in the Figure 1. Force at any length
in loading (solid line) are higher than in unloading (dashed line).
DETERMINING STRESSES IN BONE
DEFORMATION
DETERMINING STRESSES IN BONE
DEFORMATION
DETERMINING STRESSES IN BONE
DEFORMATION
 EXERCISES (SOLUTIONS PROVIDED)

• In a fall a ligament has 2500 N of tensile force

exerted on it. If the cross-sectional area of the
ligament is 2 𝑐𝑚2 , what is the tensile stress on the
ligament?
σ = F / A = (2500 N) / (2 𝑐𝑚2 ) = 1250 N/𝑐𝑚2
• If the force rises to 3000 N and 10% of the collagen
fibers fail (break), what would the new tensile stress
be?
σ = F / A = (3000 N) / (2 𝑐𝑚2 – 0.1(2 𝑐𝑚2 ))
= (3000 N) / (1.8 𝑐𝑚2 ) = 1667 N/ 𝑐𝑚2