Which structure attaches muscle to bone

They are linked by cartilage, as in the spine. Each of the vertebrae in the spine moves in relation to the one above and below it, and together these movements give the spine its flexibility. Freely movable, or synovial, joints move in many directions. The main joints of the body — found at the hip, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles — are freely movable.

They are filled with synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant to help the joints move easily. As strong as bones are, they can break. Muscles can weaken, and joints as well as tendons, ligaments, and cartilage can be damaged by injury or disease.

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Body Basics. Bones and What They Do From our head to our toes, bones provide support for our bodies and help form our shape. Bones are made up of two types of bone tissues: Compact bone is the solid, hard, outside part of the bone. This type of bone makes up the most of the human skeleton. It looks like ivory and is extremely strong.

Cancellous bone , which looks like a sponge, is inside the compact bone. It is made up of a mesh-like network of tiny pieces of bone called trabeculae. This is where red and white blood cells are formed in the marrow. Humans have three different kinds of muscle: Skeletal muscle is attached to bone, mostly in the legs, arms, abdomen, chest, neck, and face.

Skeletal muscles are called striated because they are made up of fibers that have horizontal stripes when viewed under a microscope. These muscles hold the skeleton together, give the body shape, and help it with everyday movements known as voluntary muscles because you can control their movement.

They can contract shorten or tighten quickly and powerfully, but they tire easily and have to rest between workouts. Smooth, or involuntary, muscle is also made of fibers, but this type of muscle looks smooth, not striated.

Examples of smooth muscles are the walls of the stomach and intestines, which help break up food and move it through the digestive system. Smooth muscle is also found in the walls of blood vessels, where it squeezes the stream of blood flowing through the vessels to help maintain blood pressure. Cardiac muscle is found in the heart. Cardiac muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle. In this model figure 2. In contrast, the components that do not require active contraction, also termed the passive components , are represented in this model by two elastic components - the parallel elastic component and the series elastic component.

The connective tissue coverings of muscle previously described contribute to the parallel elastic component PEC , a component that surrounds or lies parallel to the contractile proteins. The muscle tendon contributes to the series elastic component SEC , a component that lies in line with or in series with the contractile proteins. Various other structures also contribute to these elastic components, including structural proteins within and between muscle fibers that help give form to muscle but are not capable of contraction Hunter and Brown, Three-component mechanical model of muscle.

When stretch is applied to the muscle - tendon complex, it elongates both the parallel and elastic components, and the muscle exhibits viscoelastic properties. The elastic response can be modeled as a spring figure 2. These elastic components give rise to muscle's property of elasticity. Viscous or plastic properties are usually modeled by a hydraulic cylinder or dash pot, as shown in figure 2. Together, the elastic and viscous properties of connective tissue are termed viscoelastic , and it is this viscoelastic response that gives rise to muscle's property of extensibility.

The average muscle fiber can be stretched 1. Viscoelastic properties of connective tissue. The study of the viscoelastic characteristic of muscle has been instrumental in developing cur rent recommendations for effective muscle conditioning programs. For example, with stretching exercises, the goal is to achieve flexibility that persists over time, so the emphasis should be on maximizing plastic elongation Taylor et al.

This can be achieved by the use of a slow, lower-force, longer-duration stretch applied to warmed muscles. More specifically, two to four repetitions of a to second stretch are currently recommended American College of Sports Medicine, Conversely, to emphasize greater force production of a muscle, the goal is to maximize elastic elongation. Application of a rapid, higher-force stretch, immediately preceding a shortening concentric contraction of the same muscle, termed the stretch - shortening cycle , has been shown to markedly enhance force production Horita et al.

Factors in addition to the recoil effect offered by the elastic components of the muscle - tendon complex, including those that relate to neural control of the movement and muscle activation Bobbert and Casius, ; Hirayama at al. The stretch - shortening cycle is used in walking and running and acts to reduce the energy cost of these locomotor movements Thelen et al.

Home Excerpts Muscle Attachments to Bone. Proximal and Distal Attachments In most cases this text uses the terms proximal attachment and distal attachment to refer to the specific sites of these connective tissue attachments of muscles onto bone s in order to reflect the concept that when a muscle contracts, either end can move, depending on the goal and conditions of the movement.

Dancer: Merett Miller as a dancer with Sacramento Ballet When learning the actions of muscles, it is easier to first picture movements that involve the distal segment moving. Line of Pull of a Muscle An important tool for predicting the action of a given muscle is to picture its line of pull.

Mechanical Model of Muscle The connective tissue associated with muscles not only is vital for attaching muscles to bone but also influences the behavior of muscle as represented in the three-component mechanical model originally developed by A. Active Aging. Coaching and Officiating. Related questions How do I determine the molecular shape of a molecule? What is the lewis structure for co2? What is the lewis structure for hcn? How is vsepr used to classify molecules?

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