Q.Describe the different types of synovial joints found in the human body, giving the location and the type of movement permitted at each.

[!TLDR]

Synovial joints are classified by shape into ball-and-socket, hinge, pivot, gliding and saddle types, each permitting a distinct kind of movement at a specific location. …

Synovial joints, the freely movable class of joint, are further classified into several types according to the shape of the articulating bone surfaces, and this shape in turn determines exactly what kind of movement each type permits. A ball-and-socket joint has a rounded, ball-shaped head on one bone fitting into a cup-shaped socket on the other, and this arrangement permits movement in almost every direction, including rotation; it is found at the shoulder joint (between the head of the humerus and the shallow socket of the scapula) and at the hip joint (between the head of the femur and the deep socket of the coxal bone). A hinge joint permits back-and-forth movement in essentially one plane only, much like the hinge of a door, and is found at the elbow joint (between the humerus and the radius/ulna) and at the knee joint (between the femur and the tibia). A pivot joint permits one bone to rotate around a peg-like projection of another, and its defining example is the joint between the atlas and the axis vertebrae at the top of the vertebral column, which is what allows the head, carried on the atlas, to turn from side to side around the axis. A gliding joint permits the flat or slightly curved surfaces of two bones to slip or glide across one another, without significant rotation, and is found between the carpal bones of the wrist and between the tarsal bones of the ankle. A saddle joint has articulating surfaces that are each shaped like a saddle -- concave in one direction and convex in the p …

Go through each synovial joint type in turn, describing the shape of its articulating surfaces, the movement that shape permits …

Mixing up the hinge joint (one-plane movement, e.g. elbow) with the pivot joint (pure rotation, e.g. atlas-axis) -- both restrict movement …