Muscles And Tendons Flashcards
Muscles “origin”
The attachment of the muscle to a bone at the more fixed or proximal end
Muscles “insertion”
The attachment of the muscle to a bone at the end toward the part to be moved, or the more distal end
Origin
Proximal attachment of the muscle to a bone
Insertion
Distal attachment of the muscle to a bone
Agonist
The muscle that contracts to produce a certain action about a joint.
Eg. The hamstrings are agonists when you flex your knee
Antagonist
A muscle that relaxes while the agonist contracts
Eg. Quadriceps (at the front of the thigh) are the antagonists to the hamstrings when you flex your knee
Synergist
A muscle that assists and fine tunes the action of the agonist and which can produce the same action although generally not as efficiently
Tendons attach
Muscles to bones
Tendons transmit
The forces produced by the muscles, moving joints
Tendons have
Sensory nerves that communicate information about muscle tension and joint position to the brain
Tendons and ligaments have limited capacity to
Stretch and do not contract
Why should yogis not stretch ligaments and tendons beyond their normal length?
It can cause injury
Monoarticular muscles cross
Only one joint
Polyarticular muscles cross
More than one joint
Muscle fibres contract in response to
Afferent nerve stimuli (from the central nervous system)
What is afferent nerve stimuli?
An active, energy dependent process involving the release of calcium at the cellular level of the muscle fibre.
Calcium then forms cross-bridging between the myofilaments
What are muscle fibres ?
Functional contractile units of each skeletal muscle
What forms the individual skeletal muscle?
Fibres which are grouped into fascicles which, in turn, are grouped into bundles
What are noncontractile elements of the skeletal muscle?
Connective tissue sheath surrounding the muscle bundles, fascicles (fascia), individual fibres and the myotendon junction
What states can muscles exist in?
Contracted, relaxed or stretched states
What are the three types of muscle contraction?
Concentric
Eccentric
Isometric
What is concentric (isotonic) muscle contraction?
The muscle shortens while maintaining constant tension through a range of motion
Eccentric contraction
The muscle contracts while lengthening
Isometric contraction
The muscle generates tension but does not shorten and the bones do not move