Myths and Facts about Our Bones

by Rishabh

Myths and Facts about Our Bones

1. Do babies have more bones than adults?

When one is born, we have around 300 bones in the body. By the time we grow up completely, we have 206 bones. The reason behind this is that as a baby grows, some of his bones fuse together. Some of the bones in infants are made completely of flexible soft tissues, called the cartilage. These get gradually replaced by hard bones as one grows up.

2. Where is the funny bone in body located?

The funny bone in our body is in your elbow. It might have happened that you at any point of time you hit your elbow at a certain place, you might have experience a dull pain or strange kind of tingling effect. Actually, this funny bone is not really a bone. It is actually nerves that start from your upper arm and goes down to the inner side of your elbow.

3. When do our bones stop growing?

Our bones stop growing by the time we become young adults, however, this thing can change. It is generally in the late 20s that the bones stop their growth. As our age increases, our bones start getting thinner, loose their density and are at an easy risk of breaking. This effect can be delayed slightly if take care of our health and consume good amount of Vitamin D and Calcium. Also exercising is a must.

4. Do our bones create red and white blood cells?

Yes, they do. Bones have to perform a lot of function. They helps in moving and give our bodies a proper structure. Our bones also protect our vital organs from any kind of damage. Two good examples of this is that the ribcage protects our liver, heart and lungs. Similarly, our skull protects our brain.  Along with all these functions, bones also help in making of red blood cells that carry oxygen and protein to our tissues, as well as white blood cells that white infections.

5. Which of our bone is the most prone to getting broken?

Collar bone is that bone that gets broken most often. Also called Clavicle, it has a list of fractures that it can experience. This bone can break, if you fall on your arm on your hand or if you hit your shoulder. Breaking of our bones in arms and hands is also very common as most of the times we try to save ourselves from falling, from our hands only.

6. Do the bubbles present in the soft drinks harm our bones?

No, they do not. Soft drinks or sodas carry carbonation and it does not harms our bones. However, it does not means that we can gulp down as much soda as we want.  As per studies, caffeine and phosphorus in soft drinks do lead to weaken of the bones. It is better to drink orange juice or milk to get good calcium for your bones.

7. What is the number of bones that are not connected to any other bone in our body?

There is just one such bone in our body that is not connected to any other bone in our body. Hyoid is a U-shaped bone at the base of our tongue, which is not connected to any other bone.

8. Is smoking injurious for our bones?

Everyone is aware that smoking is bad for our heart, our lunge, actually for our overall health. Nevertheless, it is also injurious for our bones. Nicotine and other chemicals present in the cigarettes make it difficult for the body to such in the calcium from food that is required for our bones to remain strong. That is not all. Smoking also brings our levels of Vitamin D down.

9. Which has fewer bones- our big toe or our other toes?

While our big toe has only two bones, other toes mostly have 30 tiny bones. Similar, while the thumbs have 2 bone, the fingers of our hands have 3 bones.

10. Where is the smallest bone in our body located?

Our ear has the smallest bone. This tiny bone lies behind our eardrum and is called the stirrup. This bone is only 2.5 to 3.3 mm in length, no bigger than a fruit fly. On the other end, not only the longest one but the strongest bone is our femur, which starts from our pelvis and goes till our knee.

Also read: 
Orthopedics Surgery in India
A Guide to Joint Replacement

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