Broken Bones Nina and the Neurons: Brilliant Bodies

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# If you've got a question and you don't know where to go

# Ask Nina for some help Cos she's got a science show

# She makes sense of her senses While helping all her fans

# By doing her experiments with potions and bangs

-# Touch your tongue

-Tongue!

-# Fingers

-Fingers!

-# Eyes.

-Eyes!

-Ears.

-Ears!

-Nose.

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Luke, he helps us with our eyes and Felix with our touch

# Ollie sniffs out smells and scents And Belle, she hears so much

# Bud is Ollie's brother He helps us with our taste

# They're Nina's little Neurons And they're coming to your place!

-# Touch your tongue

-Tongue!

-# Fingers

-Fingers!

-# Eyes.

-Eyes!

-Ears.

-Ears!

-Nose.

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Oh, yeah! #

Oh, hello there. I'm just moving Mr Skeleton.

Did you know that the human body has more than 200 bones in it?

That's a lot of bones to look after. Gently does it.

-There.

-BEEPING

I hear a beep, I see a flash. I wonder what they're going to ask.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

-Hello!

We've got a question for you.

How do broken bones get better?

That's a great question, "How do broken bones get better?"

I'd love to know the answer to that. So would Mr Skeleton.

Why don't you come down to my lab? We'll experiment and investigate.

-BOTH: See you soon, Nina. Bye.

-Bye.

I'm going to need some help to answer this one,

and I know just who to ask.

OK, neurons. Time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina.

OK, today's question is, "How do broken bones get better?"

Which neuron would be most useful in helping us find the answer?

ALL: Me! Me! Me!

Will it be fabulous Felix?

I can help so very much if you need the sense of touch.

Will it be beautiful Belle?

I send messages to brain from ear, if there's sound, I help you hear.

Will it be lovely Luke?

For looking and seeing, day or night,

I'll help you with your sense of sight.

-Will it be awesome Ollie?

-If it's whiffy but you can't tell,

my messages help your sense of smell.

Or will it be baby Bud?

Sour, salty, bitter or sweet,

I'm your taste buddy whenever you eat.

-Oh!

-It's Felix!

CHEERING

ALL: Go, Felix! Go, Felix! Go, Felix! Go, Felix!

Go, Felix! Go, Felix!

Marvellous. A little touch can mean so much, Nina.

Today's question is, "How do broken bones get better?"

Because we can feel if a bone is broken,

Felix, our touch neuron will help me today.

I need to get the lab ready before the experimenters arrive.

Jack likes pirates and Cei likes planting seeds,

but they both want to know how broken bones get better.

So today, for one day only, Jack and Cei become the experimenters!

-Hi, guys.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my science lab. It's lovely to see you.

Your question was, "How do broken bones get better?" Great question.

Why do you want to know?

My cousin broke his arm but now it's better.

We want to know how it got better.

I'm glad your cousin's OK.

I think we need to investigate to find out more about bones.

For our first experiment, we're going to use our senses.

ALL: Whoop-whoo! A senses experiment! We're ready, Nina.

Each of us has hundreds of bones inside us, just like Mr Skeleton.

All of these bones inside of us help us to stand up straight

and get around and move objects.

The bones in Mr Skeleton's chest look just like a cage.

Yes, Luke. That's because some bones, like our ribs,

are there to protect soft parts of our body.

I have some pretend bones here.

I'd like you guys to use your sense of sight

to match them to bones on Mr Skeleton.

-Can you do that?

-BOTH: Yes, Nina.

-NINA GASPS

-Yeah, you're right.

It's a thigh bone. Very good. OK, Jack,

do you want to have a try with one of your bones?

Ho-ho! Well done! That was very quick, excellent.

That's the hip bone. Very good. Cei, your turn again.

Oh!

That's right, it's a kneecap. Well done.

Oh, the last one. Where do you think it goes?

Erm...

I think it's one of...

That's right! It's our calf bone. Super work, guys.

Now I would like you to use your sense of touch

to describe how the bones feel. Pick up a bone.

-Does it feel hard or bendy?

-BOTH: Hard.

Yeah, the bones feel really hard and strong, don't they?

-To prove it, listen.

-BANG!

Sounds hard to me, Nina.

It is, Belle. Bones are very hard and strong,

because of something called calcium.

If bones didn't have calcium in them,

they'd be all bendy... Oh! ..like this toy bone.

Ha-ha! Do you think it would be a good or bad thing

to have bendy, rubbery bones?

-BOTH: A bad thing.

-Yeah.

We need hard, strong bones so we can stand up and move around.

And we get calcium from eating foods like fruit and vegetables,

cheese and milk, so it's important to eat plenty of calcium foods.

-Yes! I love those foods!

-Glad to hear it, Bud.

We still don't know how broken bones get better.

To find out more, we need to visit a place where people work

with bones all the time, so let's go!

I wonder where Nina is taking us.

Nina said it's a place where people work with bones all the time.

Better sharpen your senses, neurons. We're here.

OK, experimenters. I've brought you to this hospital

to learn about how broken bones get better.

This is the person to help us - Dr Jones.

-Hello, Nina, experimenters.

-BOTH: Hi.

-Tell us about bones.

-Bones are amazing.

They're one of the strongest things in nature.

Sometimes, they still break.

bones are strong, but they can sometimes break

if we have an accident like falling off our bike.

Don't worry, it doesn't happen often.

When people break a bone, they come to a hospital to get it fixed.

This picture is called an X-ray,

which shows us the bones inside our bodies.

You can see where this bone has broken. We call that a fracture.

-A what-ture?

-A fracture, Bud.

A break in a bone is called a fracture. OK, experimenters.

Let's see if we can spot a fracture on a different X-ray.

-Can you see where it is, guys?

-Yes, Nina. There it is.

That's right. Thanks, Dr Jones.

You're welcome, Nina. Bye!

ALL: Bye!

So we've learned that bones are strong but can break

if we have an accident or fall over, and when a bone breaks,

it's called a fracture.

Do you see what that lady has on her arm?

-My cousin had one of those.

-It's called a cast.

When someone has a fracture, a doctor often puts a cast

around the outside of the broken bone to help it get better.

-Excuse me, do you mind if we touch your cast?

-OK, Nina.

Let's have a wee feel.

-Feels very hard to me, Nina.

-That's right, Felix.

How does this hard cast help a broken bone to get better?

I've got an experiment back at the lab that will help us find out.

-Let's go.

-BOTH: Yay!

OK, in front of you there, we have three pretend bones.

As you can see, they're all broken into two pieces.

Now, experimenters, I'd like you to help me

put these bones back together and see if we can make them match.

OK, find the match.

Do they match? No? Oh, do those match? Yay!

-Excellent!

-NINA GIGGLES

You hold onto that one.

Hold it carefully in the middle. Let's see what we can do.

Do you want to hold them up? Do they match?

-Yeah.

-Yay!

So it must be these ones.

Hey! Excellent work, guys.

Now, when a real bone breaks, the two pieces

need to fit back together perfectly for the bone to heal properly.

Healing means when something gets all better again.

But how do bones get better, Nina?

Well, our bodies make a special substance

that's a bit like this glue, and it sticks the bones back

together again when they've been broken.

In fact, why don't we put some glue on the jagged ends of our bones

and see if we can stick them together?

So when broken bones start sticking back together,

it's calcium that helps make the bone grow hard again.

That means they can grow nice and strong so they're as good as new.

OK. How are you getting on, guys?

I'm going to try and put mine together now. Fantastic.

But for the pieces to stick together,

we need the glue to become hard, which is called setting.

That only happens properly when the pieces stay perfectly still,

and that's the same with broken bones.

-Mmm.

-That's like the cast we touched at the hospital, Nina.

Yes it is, Felix.

A cast holds a broken bone perfectly still while the fracture sets.

We are going to make our very own cast. OK.

Take a strip of this wet special material.

Great. Now we're going to wrap it tightly around our fracture.

This is going to dry really quickly, setting hard.

Ah, there!

-BANG!

-Ho-ho-ho!

Our hard cast is helping our pretend bones

to stay still while they're sticking back together.

-BANG!

-Ha-ha!

So your question was, "How do broken bones get better?"

I think we've answered it. We've found out bones are hard and strong

because of something called calcium.

We get calcium from foods like fruit and vegetables and cheese and milk.

If a bone breaks, it's called a fracture,

and a doctor uses a special X-ray photograph

to see the fracture

and then put a cast around the outside of the broken bone

so that it keeps the bone straight and still.

This helps the bone join back together, which is called setting.

Our bodies make a special substance that's a bit like glue

that helps the bone stick back together.

Then calcium makes the bone strong again, as good as new.

I hope that answered your question.

BOTH: Thanks, Nina. Bye!

-Bye!

-NINA GIGGLES

If you want to find out more about the science all around us,

go to the Nina section on the CBeebies website. Have fun!

-Hearts beating.

-Lungs breathing.

-Fingers feeling.

-Mouths eating.

And don't forget your brain.

# Brilliant bodies, brilliant bodies

# Inside and out

# Brilliant bodies, brilliant bodies

# Come on, let's find out about

# Our happy hands and bendy knees

# Stretchy backs And noses that sneeze

-# We all have brilliant bodies

-Brilliant bodies!

# Every part has a job to do

# Even scabs and ear wax too

-# We all have brilliant bodies

-Brilliant bodies

# Brilliant bodies, brilliant bodies

# Lashes to protect our eyes

# Brilliant bodies, brilliant bodies

# And don't forget to exercise. #

I've had a brilliant day,

especially hearing how hard the bone was because of calcium.

Ah, it's been such a great day, man.

Seeing the broken bones in the X-ray pictures was amazing.

It's been a marvellous day. That cast felt really hard.

The bones should stick back together in no time.

And remember, everyone's body is different,

but they're all brilliant. See you again soon. Bye!

ALL: Bye-bye!