The humerus is a funny bone, don’t you think?
I know you’re just laughing so hard there! But I had to…
Bad anatomy puns are how eye roll.
Okay I am done now, but I had to get in a bad anatomy pun in there, just had to.
Here is something to remember though. Humerus is spelt differently than humorous. So one way to think about the spelling is that you are going to
Humer - us with a bad anatomy pun.
Moving on to the fun stuff!
The humerus is the bone of the arm, basically between the shoulder and the elbow. It has two necks as you can see in the images. The anatomical neck divides the head and the shaft of the body. But the surgical neck, well I feel like you can imagine why it’s called that. This is the location that if you were to snap your humerus it’d be right there and it’d require surgery!
Let’s be humored with another fact about the humerus….it is your funny bone. And the funny thing about the funny bone and when you hit it, you aren’t hitting a bone. You actually are hitting a nerve called the ulnar nerve. But this ulnar nerve runs along the medial epicondyle and that structure is the big pointy part on the medial side of the humerus. That is your funny bone for you!
Here are your resources (YouTube video & labeled bone) for studying the humerus!
1. Head
2. Anatomical Neck
3. Greater Tubercle
4. Intertubercular Groove (or Bicipital Groove)
5. Lesser Tubercle
6. Surgical Neck
7. Deltoid Tuberosity
8a. Medial Supracondylar Ridge
8b. Lateral Supracondylar Ridge
9. Medial Epicondyle
10. Olecranon Fossa
11. Trochlea (or Medial Condyle)
12. Capitulum (or Lateral Condyle)
13. Lateral Epicondyle