Welcome, thanks for joining me. In this lecture we will explore medical terminology as it relates to my personal favorite the musculoskeletal system. Let's get started. The musculoskeletal system contains both your muscles and your bones. To understand how they might be grouped together, consider how a crane works. Wait, not that crane! This crane. The metal framework supports the load, while the engine provides the power for the movement. In the human body the skeleton is the framework and the muscles are the power that allow us to move. Orthopedics is the branch of medicine that specializes in treating the musculoskeletal system. As a physical therapist and professor of kinesiology, I also deal with the musculoskeletal system on a daily basis. What a dreamy job! In short, the most basic purposes of the musculoskeletal system are to provide shape and support and to allow movement. The first purpose of the musculoskeletal system relates primarily to the skeleton. Your bones serve many purposes but the primary purpose is to provide support and shape to the human body. The second purpose of the musculoskeletal system relates primarily to the muscles. Like your bones, your muscles also serve many purposes but the two primary purposes are to produce force and to create movement. Before we get much further in the discussion, let's go over some basic anatomy of the musculoskeletal system. To begin, we will look at the basic structure of a long bone. The ends of the bones are each called an epiphysis, the plural of epiphysis is epiphyses. You might have heard of a growth plate. The medical term for growth plate is the epiphyseal plate. This is where bone growth occurs. The epiphyseal plates become epiphyseal lines after puberty when growth is complete. The long middle part of the bone is called the diaphysis and the metaphysis is a small area that connects the epiphysis to the diaphysis. The skeleton itself can be divided into two main parts: the axial and appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton is made up of the skull, the spine, the sternum, and the ribs. If you're asked about anything other than the skull, spine, sternum, and ribs, it is safe to say it is not the axial skeleton. The spine is made up of vertebrae. Vertebral sections include the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral regions. The axial skeleton protects organs, particularly your heart, lungs, and squishy guts. That's why it's such a huge sign of trust when an animal rolls over on it's back to expose it's belly. There's no bony protection for their squishy parts in this position. So they have to be really sure you mean them well. The appendicular skeleton is made up of the bones that allow you to move your arms or upper extremities and legs or lower extremities. Which bones? Why? Anything that's not the skull, spine, sternum or ribs. The upper extremities are segmented into arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, and hands. The lower extremities have a similar arrangement known as thighs, knees, legs, ankles, and feet. A joint is where two bones meet. We tend to only think of joints that allow for movement. However, there are also immovable joints like those found in your skull. Joints are held together by supportive tissues. Ligaments typically join bone to bone, while tendons join muscle to bone. Cartilage can be found at the end of the bones, making up each movable joint and allows for smooth movement. Bursae are sacks of fluid found under tendons to cushion the structures that surround the joint and prevent fraying of the tendons with repeated movement. From bones, we move to the basic anatomy of muscles. Muscles are many bundles of muscle fibers. They are covered by a thin sheet of connective tissue called fascia. Say it with me, fascia. Muscles are attached to bones via tendons. Their function is to generate force and move the bones. There are several types of muscle: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Skeletal or strided muscle attaches to bones, has striations, and is encased in fascia. It is what we commonly think of as a muscle and moves the bones voluntarily. Examples include the biceps and triceps brachii muscles. Cardiac muscle also has striations but differ slightly in packaging from skeletal muscle. It is only found in the heart and is under involuntary control. The third muscle type, smooth muscle, has no specific bundles. It lines hollow organs like blood vessels, airways, and the digestive system, and is also under involuntary control. Now, for a brain break. Doesn't that feel better? We will continue our exploration by learning some new word roots related to the musculoskeletal system and the skeleton in particular. How the fun times never end! Our first new route is perhaps the most common. Oste/o means bone as in osteopathy or periosteum. Our next root is crani/o. It means head or skull as in a cranial meter which measures the size of the skull. What a cute little one? Below the skull is the neck. Cervic/o is the word root for neck, you can see it in the term cervical region which is the area of the spine which corresponds with the neck. Fun facts, did you know that both humans and giraffes each have seven cervical vertebra? Giraffes are just a little longer. Our next word root is cost/o meaning rib. Acostotectomy is removal of a rib and intercostal means pertaining to between the ribs. Fun fact, the ribs seen here are actually intercostal muscles, pig intercostal muscles to be specific. You're welcome. The lower back region is the lumbar spine where you can hear the root lumb/o. Lumbodynia or pain in the lower back is a common complaint in orthopedics. Our next word root is brachi/o, meaning arm. It can be found in the name of the muscle biceps brachii. Carp/o means wrist. It can be seen in the words carpoectomy or removal of wrist bones and metacarpal which literally translates to beyond the carpel and are the bones of the hand. Maybe you've heard of carpal tunnel surgery. It's wrist surgery. The next word roots pertain to the lower extremity or leg. Femor/o means femur or the thigh bone. The large artery found in the thigh that provides arterial blood to the thigh region is called the femoral artery. Fun fact. Turkey drumsticks seen here are the fowl equivalent of a human femur bone. Tibi/o means tibia, commonly known as the shin bone. The tibia is the prominent bone in the lower leg. Tibialgia or pain in the tibia is often associated with shin splints. The final word root for the bones of the lower extremity tars/o means ankle. Ankle sprains are a common cause of tarsalgia or pain in the ankle. Continuing with new roots about the skeleton, let's now look at some roots pertaining to skeletal articulations or joints. The root chondr/o means cartilage. Cartilage can be found lining the articulating surfaces of movable joints to allow for smooth movement. You can also find cartilage in your ears and nose. Of note, cartilage is relatively avascular, meaning without blood vessels which is why you can pierce it without losing vast amounts of blood. There would be far fewer piercings and even fewer piercers (Is that a thing, piecers?) if they came with a risk of hemorrhage. It's also why cartilage in the joint is very slow to heal, if it heals at all. The main root for joint is arthr/o. you can find this root in words like arthritis which is an inflammation of the joint, and arthroscopic surgery which is performed by the insertion of a small camera and tools to view and correct problems of the joint. The final root pertaining to joints is burs/o meaning bursa. Bursitis or inflammation of the bursa is a common cause of shoulder, knee, and hip pain. Off note, prepatellar bursitis is often known as nun's knee, carpet layer's knee or coal miner's knee. It is an inflammation of the bursa just in front of the patella or kneecap. It is common in these professions due to frequent kneeling. To complete this lecture we need to learn a few new word roots relating to muscles. Perhaps the most important roots for muscles are muscul/o, my/o, and myos/o, meaning muscle. You can find them in musculoskeletal the system made up of muscles and bones, and myopathy or disease of the muscle. Ten/o, tend/o and tendin/o, all mean tendon. Tendonitis or inflammation of the tendon is another common orthopedic complaint and it's usually caused by overuse of a muscle. Do you know the yellow chewy part of the big hunk of meat you bite off of a drumstick. Yup, that's a tendon. Sorry. One root that you should never forget is kinesi/o. You can find it in the word kinesiology, which is the study of human movement and also the best major on campus. The faculty are so caring and smart and funny and relatable. They look like movie stars. I digress... As with all good things this lecture too must come to an end. Thanks for exploring the introduction and word parts related to the musculoskeletal system with me. See you next time
