A joint is the location at which two bones make contact. They are constructed to allow movement and provide mechanical support, and are classified structurally and functionally.

Classification

Joints are classified structurally and functionally. Structural classification is determined by how the bones connect to each other, while functional classification is determined by the degree of movement between the articulating bones. In practice, there is significant overlap between the two types of classifications. In example, the highly mobile diarthroses are universally synovial joints (and in practice the two terms are used interchangeably) though the first term refers to the functional classification and the second to the structural classification.

Terms ending in the suffix -sis are singlular and refer to just one joint, while -ses is the suffix for pluralization.

 Structural classification

Structural classification names and divides joints according to how the bones are connected to each other. There are three structural classifications of joints:

Fibrous - bones are connected by dense connective tissue, consisting mainly of collagen. The fibrous joints are further divided into three types:

• Sutures are found between bones of the skull. In fetal skulls the sutures are wide to allow slight movement during birth. They later become ridgid (synarthroidal).
• Syndesmosis are found between long bones of the body, such as the radius and ulna in forearm and the fibula and tibia in leg. Unlike other fibrous joints, syndesmoses are moveable (amphiarthroidal).
• Gomphosis is a joint between the root of a tooth and the sockets in the maxilla or mandible.

Cartilaginous - bones are connected entirely by cartilage (also known as "synchondroses"). Cartilaginous joints allow more movement between bones than a fibrous joint but less than the highly mobile synovial joint. An example would be the joints between the ribs and the sternum. Cartilaginous joints also forms the growth regions of immature long bones and the intervertebral discs of the spinal column.

Synovial - synovial joints have a space between the articulating bones for synovial fluid. This classification contains joints that are the most mobile of the three, and includes the knee and shoulder.

 Functional classification

Joints can also be classified functionally, by the degree of mobility they allow.

Synarthrosis - permit little or no mobility. They can be categorised by how the two bones are joined together:

• Synchondroses are joints where the two bones are connected by a piece of cartilage.
• Synostoses are where two bones that are initially separted eventually fuse together, essentially becoming one bone. In humans the plates of the cranium fuse together as a child approaches adulthood. Children whose craniums fuse too early may suffer deformities and brain damage as the skull does not expand properly to accommodate the growing brain, a condition known as craniostenosis.

Amphiarthrosis - permit slight mobility. The two bone surfaces at the joint are both covered in hyaline cartilage and joined by strands of fibrocartilage. Most amphiarthrosis joints are cartilaginous.

Diarthrosis - permit a variety of movements (e.g. flexion, adduction, pronation). Only synovial joints are diarthrodial.

 See also

• Arthritis
• Arthrology, the science concerned with the anatomy, function, dysfunction and treatment of joints.
• Kinesiology, the study of musculoskeletal movements.
• Replacement joint

 External links

• Illustration of synovial joints
• Arthritis joint treatments

Major Joints

Vertebral column: atlanto-axial - atlanto-occipital - temporomandibular - sternocostal - sacroiliac Upper extremity: sternoclavicular - acromioclavicular - shoulder - elbow/proximal radioulnar articulation - wrist/distal radioulnar articulation - carpometacarpal - metacarpophalangeal - interphalangeal Lower extremity: hip - knee - ankle - subtalar - metatarsophalangeal