Adults have 206 separate bones. Your muscles attach to bones and together, they enable you to maintain balance or create movement at your joints while you exercise, including on the elliptical machine. The American College of Sports Medicine reports that you lose about .5 percent of your bone mass every year beginning at age 40. Use a high-resistance intensity level on the elliptical to improve your bone health.
Axial Bones
The bones of your axial skeleton are found in your skull, spine and chest. The spinal or vertebral bones in your chest and lower back regions function as anchor points for the muscles that move your arms and legs. They help to stabilize your body as your limbs move the handle bars and pedals of the elliptical machine. There are 12 thoracic vertebrae in your upper and middle back; there are five lumbar vertebrae in your lower back. The sacrum, or the largest spinal bone, serves as the posterior bone of your pelvis.
Upper Extremities
Your shoulder girdle, arms, forearms and hands are part of your appendicular skeleton. The collarbones and shoulder blades make up the shoulder girdle. You have a single bone in your upper arm called the humerus. The radius and ulna make up your forearm bones. There are eight carpal bones in each wrist. Each hand has five metacarpal bones and your fingers have a total of 14 bones or phalanges per hand. The bones and muscles of your hand and forearm enable you to grip the handle bars of the elliptical machine. The muscles of your chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps act on your shoulder girdle and humerus to pull and push the bars.
Lower Extremities
Your lower extremities are the other parts of your appendicular skeleton. The appendicular skeleton is made up of your hip girdle, your thighs, legs and feet. Two bones make up your hip girdle--the right and left coxal bones or your hip bones. Your thigh bone is the femur and your knee bone is the patella. Each lower leg has a fibula and a tibia. In each foot, there are seven tarsal bones per ankle; there are five metatarsals per foot and 14 phalanges in the toes of each foot. The muscles and bones of your lower extremities push on the pedals of the elliptical machine. They also help your axial skeleton to stabilize your body.
Types
There are four types of bones--long bones, short bones, flat bones and irregular bones. Your humerus, radius, ulna, femur and tibia are long bones; the bones in your fingers and toes are short bones; the spinal bones are irregular bones and your shoulder blades are flat bones.
Bones You Can Feel
The bone you feel at the front of your leg or shin is your tibia. Do a 10-minute warm-up and stretch before your elliptical workout to prevent shin splints. The large bone on the heel of your foot is the tarsal bone, the calcaneus. Lift the heel of your feet slightly off the pedal to focus more on your calves. If you let go of the handle bars and swing your arms on the elliptical, you may bump the olecranon process. This is the bony protrusion of your elbow, the end of the ulna bone.
References
- "Anatomy & Physiology"; Gary Thibodeau, Ph.D. and Kevin Patton, Ph.D.; 2007
- American College of Sports Medicine: Physical Activity and Bone Health
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