7.4: Bone Shape Classifications

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Rosanna Hartline
Lemoore College

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Bone Shape Classifications

There are six types of bones in the human body: long, short, flat, irregular, sesamoid and sutural.

Shape	Description	Example
long bones	Longer that they are wide	humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia fibula
short bones	Length and wide are about the same	bones of the wrist and ankle
flat bones	They are flat	bones of the skull, sternum, ribs, and hip
irregular bones	Shape does not fit any of the other descriptions	ethmoid, sphenoid bone, vertebra, sacrum
sesamoid bones	Oval shaped bones located within tendons	patella
sutural bones	Small bones located between flat bones of the skull at the suture	Wormian bones of skull (small irregular bones embedded in a cranial suture)

Flat bone (Frontal) Short bone (Carpal) Sesamoid bone (Patella) Sutural bone Irregular bone (Vertebra) Long bone (Femur)

Above: The classifications of bone shapes with examples of each.

Attributions

"Anatomy and Physiology I Lab" by Victoria Vidal is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Updated 2025.

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