Muscles (General)

Question 1

What are examples of muscle functions? (6)

Answer 1

• maintain posture
• joint stabilisation and support
• movement of substances through gut
• drive circulating systems
• produce heat to maintain internal temperature
• protect organs against external impacts

Question 2

What do the skeletal muscles do? Do they contribute to voluntary or involuntary actions?

Answer 2

• produce forces to generate movement

- they produce voluntary actions/movements

Question 3

What do the cardiac muscles do? Do they contribute to voluntary or involuntary actions?

Answer 3

• they are muscles which constitute the heart
• they undergo cyclic contractions
• contribute to involuntary actions

Question 4

What do the smooth muscles do? Do they contribute to voluntary or involuntary actions?

Answer 4

• they are muscles which line the walls of organs (eg blood vessels, respiratory tract and hollow organs)
• they contribute to involuntary actions

Question 5

What are skeletal muscle names based on? (6)

Answer 5

• direction of muscle fibres
• shape of muscles
• location
• its action
• size of muscle
• number of heads

Question 6

Name all the structures in a muscle and what they’re made of

Answer 6

muscles -> muscle fascicles -> muscle fibres -> myofibrils -> sarcomere (actin + myosin)

Question 7

What is the function of the tendon

Answer 7

connects muscles to bones

Question 8

What is the end of where the tendon meets the bone called

Answer 8

teno-osseous junction

Question 9

What is the end where the tendon meets the muscle called

Answer 9

musculo-tendinuous junction

Question 10

How is force on bone generated (musculo-tendon contractions)?

Answer 10

individual muscle fibers generate a force which accumulates in the tendon and the accumulated force pulls on the bone

Question 11

What is an aponeurosis?

Answer 11

a line where the muscle fibres converge before branching off in different directions

Question 12

Which muscle is stronger, parallel or pennate muscles? Why?

Answer 12

Pennate muscle is stronger. There are a larger number of muscle fibres in one area so it has a greater physiological cross sectional area.

Question 13

What is a physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA)?

Answer 13

the area of the cross section of a muscle perpendicular to its fibres

Question 14

Which muscle has a greater contraction speed and why?

Answer 14

parallel muscles. The shortening distance of fibres = shortening distance of muscle