Bone still cartilaginous. The following steps are followed in the conversion of cartilage to bone: Bones have a variety of functions: Bones serve a variety of mechanical functions. Together the bones in the body form the skeleton. They provide a frame to keep the body supported, and an attachment point for skeletal muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints, which function together to generate and transfer forces so that individual body parts or the whole body can be manipulated in three-dimensional space (the interaction between bone and muscle is studied in biomechanics). Bones protect internal organs, such as the skull protecting the brain
Opponens pollicis muscle Opponens pollicis muscle The opponens pollicis is a small, triangular muscle in the hand, which functions to oppose the thumb. It is one of the three thenar muscles, lying deep to the abductor pollicis brevis and lateral to the flexor pollicis brevis. The opponens pollicis originates from the flexor retinaculum of the hand and the tubercle of the trapezium. It passes downward and laterally, and is inserted into the whole length of the metacarpal bone of the thumb on its radial side. Like the other thenar muscles, the opponens pollicis is innervated by the recurrent branch of the median nerve.