The Magic Bone Suit

The zillions of microscopic air sacs that comprise your lungs are as delicate as soap bubbles. Your heart is an extraordinary pump that must continue to drum away with no outside interference or disruption. Heart and lungs would be mush if they weren’t protected from daily assaults.

Because Mother Nature, in her usual infinite wisdom, wrapped you in a magic bone suit, you can almost always survive being tackled in the end-zone or rear-ended by an SUV or sent flying by the proverbial banana peel.

Your skull is the armored cage that protects soft brain tissue. Your pelvic cage is, among other things, a bumper car for your kidneys, pancreas, liver and many yards of guts (and sometimes a fetus). But most important, the ribcage protects the acquisition and delivery of oxygen. Without that, all else is lost.

The ribcage must be rigid enough to shield you, yet flexible enough for reasonable “give” when you take a deep breath. It must be self-healing, preferably stronger than it was before a bone break. It must be extraordinarily tough, yet lightweight. It must accommodate the arm and shoulder attachments. It has to last at least four score and seven.

In return, all that is expected of you is to keep the cage properly aligned for efficient breathing and to keep the related muscles in and around the ribs strong and flexible and to maintain bone health.

Be well. Breathe beautifully.