Joint Anatomy and Physiology-The Chicken Wing Dissection
Background
Movement in the human body results from a series of structures that work collaboratively to provide range of
motion. Skeletal muscles, connective tissue and bones all play a significant role in movement. Joints occur
where bones articulate. Joints are classified as synovial, fibrous or cartilaginous. Synovial joints include six
different types of joints. These include ball and socket, hinge, condylar (ellipsoid), pivot, plane, and saddle
joints. In this activity you will observe the hinge joint of the wing of a chicken. It is analogous to the hinge joint
found in the human arm between the radius and ulna and the humerus.
In today’s activity you will explore the structure and function of a chicken wing and compare it to that of a
human arm. This will allow you to discover the various types of tissue involved in movement at the
macroscopic level and develop an understanding of how a particular type of synovial joint- the hinge joint
works.
Pre-Lab Questions:
1. How are the major joint types different?
2. In this lab you will observe a synovial joint-the hinge joint. Explain how hinge joints work.
3. From prior knowledge, what are the relationships between bones, ligaments, tendons and cartilage in
the human skeleton?
Procedure Part I
Use the copy of the PowerPoint slides to dissect the chicken wing. Follow the directions in the handouts.
Lab Questions: As you do the lab, answer the following questions in your lab notebook.
1. Determine if your chicken wing is a left or right wing. Explain.
2. Make a detailed drawing to scale and include the joint you observe, the ligaments, tendons, cartilage,
bones, muscles, fat, skin and joint type as you proceed through the lab.
3. When grabbing the wing tip and shoulder describe what happens to the bones and muscles.
4. What muscles attached to which bones and where? Describe this.
5. After finding the tendons of the chicken wing, cut them and pull away the muscles. Find the ligaments.
What do you notice about the ligaments? Compare them to the tendons.
6. Identify the cartilage in the joint. What is the purpose of cartilage?
7. Make a table like the one below in your lab notebook.
Tissue
Fat
Muscle
Tendon
Ligament
Cartilage
Description of the Macroscopic Structures
Tissue it attaches to
Analysis
8. What purpose does connect tissue serve?
9. Write a brief paragraph that explains how muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage contribute to the
wing’s movement.
Making the Human Connection
With your left hand grasp something with weight such as a heavy textbook and hold it at your side. Place your
right hand on your upper left arm so that you can feel your muscle move. Slowly bend your left arm to raise
the weight. Then slowly straighten your left arm to lower it. Repeat this motion a few times until you can feel
and see what is happening.
10. Based on these observations, our study of muscles in the last unit, and the observations of the chicken
wing, explain how the chicken wing and the human arm moves using all the structures identified in this
lab.
11. Observe the diagram on the back of the Winging It handouts. What can you conclude from this
diagram?