- Ball- and - socket joint: Consists of a bone with globular or egg-shapped head and articulating with the cup shaped cavity of another bone. Allows widest range of motion, including movement in all planes (multiaxial) EX: shoulder and hip joints
- Condylar joint: Consitst of an ovoid condyle fitting into an elliptical cavity. Permits back and forth and side to side movements within 2 plane (biaxial), but not rotation EX: joints between metacarpals and phalanges
- Plane joint: Articulating surfaces nearly flat or slightly curved. Allows a sliding or twisting movement (non-axial). EX: joints of the wrist and ankle, as well as those between vertebrae, sacroiliac joints
- Hinge joint: A convex sruface of a bone fits into a concave surface of another. Allows movement in 1 plane (uniaxial), like hinge of a door. EX: the elbow and joints between phalanges
- Pivot joint: a cylindrical surface rotates within a ring of bone and ligament. Allows only rotation around central axis (uniaxial) EX: joint between the dens of the axis and the atlas
- Saddle joint: Found between bones that have both concave and convex areas in their articulating surfaces; bone have complementary surfaces. Permits a variety of movements, mostly in 2 planes (biaxial) EX: the joint between the trapezium (carpal) and the metacarpal of the thumb