What would we be without bones? The skeletal system is crucial to rock climbing and is what saves our muscles from getting excessive damage. Relying more on bones rather than muscle will also save climbers a lot of energy instead of just using arms all the way up the wall. There are four classes of bones, short, long, flat, and irregular which are all used during climbing. A climber's skeletal system helps support and makes up the framework of the body and is crucial in order to maintain form on the rock wall. The skeletal structure also protects vital organs and most importantly the spinal cord to reduce damage, even fatally, during a fall or any sort of accident. Bones have the unique ability to move in incredible ways; for example, a climber who encounters an area of rock where it is too difficult for good hand placements, can use their legs to push them up to a more accessible area and besides, climbers' legs are much stronger than their muscles.
Although hands are small, they have many bones which are entirely useful for climbing. Bones such as the hamate, pisiform, triquetral, lunate, capitate, scaphoid, trapezium, and trapezoid are all used during climbing.
