Types Of Joints Of The Body

A joint is an articulation, or the point where two bones come together. Diarthrotic joints of the body enable you to move through a wide range of motion, such as the shoulder joint. Amphiarthrotic joints permit very little movement, such as the joint between your pubic bones. Synarthrotic joints do not move at all, such as the junction of the skull bones in an adult. Your joints are also classified according to their structure.

Syndesmoses

Syndesmoses joints are fibrous joints in which ligaments connect the bones together. Only slight movement is possible at these joints. The connection between your forearm bones, your radius and your ulna, near your wrist is an example of a syndesmoses joint.

Sutures

Sutures are the fibrous joints between your skull bones. At birth, your skull bones are not tightly joined together, so the bones can shift slightly through the birth canal. During your childhood and early adult years, although your sutures do not permit visible movement, they are not completely fused together so your brain has room to grow. It is not until later adulthood that your sutures completely fuse to form a very tight bond between the bones of your skull.

Gomphoses

The immovable joints between your jawbones and the roots of your teeth are gomphoses joints. Fibrous tissue joins the roots of your teeth to the tiny processes of your mandible, your lower jawbone, and the maxilla, or your upper jawbone.

Synchondroses

Synchondroses joints are joints where the bones are connected by cartilage. These joints permit very little movement, such as the joint between your first rib and your breast bone.

Symphyses

Symphyses joints are also made of cartilage and permit slight movement, such as the joints between the bodies of your vertebral bones. For women, the symphyses pubis, or the joint between the pubic bones, shifts slightly during childbirth to enable the baby to move through the pelvis.

Synovial

Synovial joints are diarthrotic joints. Such joints are freely movable and make up most of the joints of your arms and legs. Synovial joints are further classified as pivot, gliding, ball-and-socket, hinge, condyloid and saddle joints. Your shoulder joint is a ball-and-socket joint which you can flex, extend, abduct, adduct and rotate.
Synovial joints have a joint capsule, a synovial membrane, joint cartilage, a cavity between the bones, pads of cartilage between the bones, and ligaments. Some synovial joints have a bursae, or a pillow-like structure filled with synovial fluid. Bursae cushion the joint and enable tendons to move easily. Osteoarthritis is a common degenerative joint disease of movable joints. It develops from "wear and tear" and the breakdown of the cartilage at the ends of the bones.