The human body is quite a feat of engineering
Regina Klest, 6, a first-grader at MacArthur School in Hoffman Estates, asked, "How does the body work?"
The body is the most amazing creation. It is made up of about 75 percent water, some salts, lipids, carbohydrates and the nucleic acids RNA and DNA. This mix and other elements combine to form cells, and the cells form tissues, organs and bones.
Thousands, maybe millions, of things contribute to making your body work. What makes your body move is your skeletal system. Even when you're asleep, your skeletal system is at work, scratching your nose or moving you to a more comfortable spot. From adjusting your eye glasses to swinging on the playground, everything you do involves the ligaments, tendons and muscles that push or pull your bones and generate movement. Bone has another important job. Some bones are responsible for manufacturing white and red blood cells.
The whole system depends on important cells that are responsible for bone growth and repair. Dr. Rebecca Carl, a sports medicine physician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said, "Bones are like a body of a car. It doesn't last forever. Bone in your body breaks down, too. Your body has cells that take away the old bone and cells that make new bone to replace it."
Dr. Carl explained that fractures heal because cells remove the raggedy edges and replace them with new bone cell, creating even more bone than needed and then smoothing away the extra. "Kids do a much better job of remodeling; you can't always tell with a kid that there was a fracture," she said.
Growth only occurs from certain places in the bone structure called growth plates. Brand new bone starts out as flexible cartilage, that bendable material in your nose and ears.
"Young cartilage cells grow and ossify; they become firm with calcium," Dr. Carl said.
Bones are the framework of your body, but they can't work without ligaments, tendons and muscles.
"Ligaments are ropes that tie bones together," Dr. Carl said.
When you want to move, your brain transmits signals to your skeletal system to get to work. Messages are sent to your muscles and tendons. They expand and contract so you can lift and reach, run, jump or just sit.
Children's Memorial Hospital is analyzing the ways the body moves at its Motion Analysis Center. Experts can document muscle or joint problems in people who have movement disorders. They can develop treatments to improve mobility.
Where does movement begin when you pitch a baseball? Experts are using motion studies to conduct research on pitching biomechanics using a White Sox pitching analyst, pediatric sports medicine physicians, biomedical engineers, kinesiologists and physical therapists.
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<p class="factboxheadblack">Check these out </p> <p class="News">The Schaumburg Township District Library suggests these titles on the human body:</p> <p class="News">• "The Human Body," by Seymour Simon</p> <p class="News">• "Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body," by David Macaulay</p> <p class="News">• "Human Body," by Linda Calabresi</p> <p class="News">• "Under Your Skin: Your Amazing Body," by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom</p> <p class="News">• "Bones," by Kate Lennard</p>