Nothing symbolizes death as much as a skull or skeleton. The dry bones presented for laboratory study suggest that the skeleton is an inert scaffold for the body, like the steel girders of a building. Seeing it in such a sanitized form makes it easy to forget that the living skeleton is made of dynamic tissues, full of cells–that it continually remodels itself and interacts physiologically with all of the other organ systems of the body. The skeleton is permeated with nerves and blood vessels, and it receives a blood flow of about 200 to 400 mL/min in adults, attesting to its sensitivity and metabolic activity.

The skeletal system is composed of three types of organs-bones, cartilages, and ligaments–tightly joined together to form a strong, flexible organ system. Cartilage, the forerunner of most bones in embryonic and childhood development, covers many joint surfaces in the mature skeleton. Ligaments hold bones together at the joints and are discussed in chapter 10. Tendons are structurally similar to ligaments but attach muscle to bone; they are discussed with the muscular system in chapter 11.

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