3. movement Flashcards
skeletal muscles
Muscles attached to bones. Majority of muscles. Two types: flexors and extensors
Flexors
Muscles that bend a joint
Extensors
Muscles that straighten a joint
Agonists
Muscles that promote a movement
Antagonists
Muscles that oppose a movement
How do muscles carry out skilled, rapid movements?
Started by agonists and stopped by antagonists. Allows limb to accelerate and halt with great speed and precision
How do muscles stabilize movement
Agonists and antagonists contract at same time (co-contraction)
How are muscle fibres controlled?
By an alpha motor neuron that originates in the spinal cord or brain
Motor unit
Alpha motor neuron + muscle fibres. Critical link between muscles and CNS
Reflexes
Sterotyped, automatic muscle responses to particular stimuli. Involve the activation of sensory receptors. Rapid and occur without brain’s involvement. Depend on circuits in or near spinal cord
Knee jerk response
Stretch (myotatic) reflex that occurs when tendon below knee is struck. Produces a slight stretch of the knee extensor muscle, which is sensed by receptors within the muscle called muscle spindles. Spindles stimulate sensory neurons which send impulses to spinal cord. Signals activate alpha motor neurons that cause stretched extensor muscle to contract, triggering the reflex. At same time, the antagonist flexor muscle relaxes. Allows you to “stick a landing”
Flexion withdrawal reflex
Protective reflex that occurs when foot touches a sharp object. Pain receptors send message to spinal cord, alpha motor neurons are activated, leg is lifted (flexion). At same time, because body weight must be supported on other leg, extensors on opposite leg are activated (flexion crossed extension reflex)
Muscle spindles
Provide feedback to brain about where various body parts are and how they’re moving during movement.
Gamma motor neurons
Adjusts sensitivity of system, keeps muscle spindles taut
Golgi tendon organs
Receptors where muscles connect to tendon, detect how much force/tension is applied to muscle. Increases precision