THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM

The human body contains 650 muscles, making up about 40% of the body mass. It permits movement of

the body, maintains posture, and circulates blood throughout the body. They help protect bones and the

internal organs such as kidneys and blood vessels. They also give form and shape to the body. The

muscles allow movement through contraction and relaxation. Muscles produce not only those movements

that are under the control of our will and that we can see and feel, but also those movements that are

responsible for activities like breathing, digestion of food, pumping of blood etc.

Functions of Muscular System:

Muscular system has the following important functions in human body;

1. MOVEMENTS OF BODY PARTS: Skeletal muscles are responsible for all voluntary

movements of human body parts. They provide the force by contracting actively at the

expense of energy. In other words, muscles are motors of body where chemical energy of

food is converted into mechanical work.

2. STABILITY AND POSTURE: Skeletal muscles stabilize human skeleton and give a

proper posture to human beings. Some joints of human body are weak and they require the

support of muscular system to achieve stability. Skeletal muscles are very important for

such joints.

3. HEAT PRODUCTION: A large share of body’s energy is used by muscular system. As a

result of high metabolic rate, muscles produce great amount of heat in the body. Heat

produced by muscles is very important in cold climates.

4. CIRCULATION: Cardiac muscles provide the main force for circulation of blood

throughout human body. The regular pumping of heat keeps the blood in motion and

nutrients are readily available to every tissue of human body.

 5. HELP IN DIGESTION: Smooth muscles of organs like stomach and intestine help the

digestive system in the process of digestion of food.

There are over 600 skeletal muscles in the human body attaching to a bone and connecting a joint to
enable us to move our limbs.
The neck muscles and massive triangular muscles of the back stabilize the head and shoulders and permit
a range of complex movements. The most powerful muscles in the body and those that run along the
spine. They maintain posture and provide the strength for lifting and pushing.

The face muscles control a wide range of movements and are especially complex around the mouth and
eyes. 

TYPES OF MUSCLE

There are three types of muscle:

SKELETAL MUSCLE

 There are nearly 650 skeletal muscles in the human body

 Skeletal muscles are attached to the skeleton

 They work in pairs: one muscle moves the bone in one direction and the other moves it back

again

 Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles - in other words we think about what movements we

want to make (at least, usually!) and send messages via our nervous system to tell the

appropriate muscle(s) to contract. 

 Muscle contractions can be short, single contractions or longer ones. 

Skeletal muscles are the only voluntary muscle tissue in the human body and control every action that a

person consciously performs. Most skeletal muscles are attached to two bones across a joint, so the

muscle serves to move parts of those bones closer to each other, according to The Merck Manual.

VISCERAL OR SMOOTH MUSCLE

  Smooth muscle is found in our internal organs: in our digestive system, our blood vessels, our

bladder, our respiratory organs and, in a female, the uterus. 

 Smooth muscle can stretch and maintain tension over extended periods 

 Smooth muscles are involuntary muscles - in other words we do not have to think about

contracting them because they are controlled automatically by the nervous system. It would be

pretty inconvenient if we had to think about digesting our food, for example!

Visceral, or smooth, muscle is found inside organs such as the stomach and intestines, as well as in blood

vessels. It is called a smooth muscle because, unlike skeletal muscle, it does not have the banded

appearance of skeletal or cardiac muscle. The weakest of all muscle tissues, visceral muscles contract to

move substances through the organ. Because visceral muscle is controlled by the unconscious part of the

brain, it is known as involuntary muscle, as it cannot be controlled by the conscious mind.

CARDIAC MUSCLE

 It can stretch, just like smooth muscle, and contract like skeletal muscle. 

 It is a twitch muscle - it only does short single contractions

 Like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle is involuntary. It'd be rather dangerous if it were voluntary -

we could stop our heart beating any time we wanted!

Found only in the heart, cardiac muscle is an involuntary muscle responsible for pumping blood

throughout the body. The heart's natural pacemaker is made of cardiac muscle that signals other cardiac

muscles to contract. Like visceral muscles, cardiac muscle tissue is controlled involuntarily. While

hormones and signals from the brain adjust the rate of contraction, cardiac muscle stimulates itself to

contract.
 Skeletal muscle = striated, voluntary, shaped like long fibers, multinucleated.

 Smooth muscle = nonstriated, involuntary, shaped like almonds (tapered ends), one nucleus per

cell.

 Cardiac muscle = striated, involuntary, branched, shaped like fibers cross-linked to one another,

typically one nucleus per cell.

 Striated = due to sarcomere structure (A bands dark, I bands light). Skeletal and cardiac muscles

have sarcomeres.

 Nonstriated = smooth muscles don't have sarcomeres so they're not striated. They still have

myosin, actin, and use the sliding filament mechanism. They just are not organized into

sarcomeres.

VOLUNTARY MUSCLES

 A voluntary muscle, however, is one that can be controlled through stimuli, such as movement.

Voluntary muscles are also called skeletal muscles. These are muscles attached to the bones, and

movement is caused by contraction of these muscles. There are two primary proteins that help the

muscles contract and relax namely the myosin and actin proteins. Voluntary muscles are the

muscles a person chooses to move, unlike involuntary muscles, which are the muscles that are not
 consciously controlled. Most are connected to the bones by tendons, and the muscle runs along

the length of the entire bone

INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES

 An involuntary muscle, also called smooth muscle, is located within blood vessels, digestive

system and internal organs, with the exception of the heart. It looks smooth when viewed under a

microscope and doesn’t have the striations or stripes that are seen in voluntary muscle tissue.

How do muscles move?

 The cells that make up muscles contract and then relax back to original size. Tiny microscopic

fibers in these cells compress by sliding in past each other like a sliding glass door being opened

and then shut again. The cells of your muscles use chemical energy from the food you eat to do

this. Without food, and particular kinds of nutrients, your muscles wouldn’t be able to make the

energy to contract.

Actions of Muscles

Antagonistic pair of muscles- required move a part of the body in one direction and then back to its

original position.

Agonist or Prime mover- the muscle that brings about movement of a bone and the other muscle is called

the antagonist.

Biceps- is the large muscle attached to the front portion of the humerus (upper bone) Triceps- lies

opposite the biceps and the back of the humerus.

Synergists- antagonistic muscles, other muscles in the body, such as the shoulder muscle and pectoral

muscles, help bring about smooth and efficient movements.

Parts of the muscle:

Each muscle tissue is composed of muscle fibers that are further grouped into bundles of upto 150 fibers

called “fasciculi”. Each fasiculus is bordered by perimysium and fibers within each fasiculus are covered

by endomysium. Individual fibers consist of hundreds or thousands of myofibrils that are organized into

sections called sarcomeres along its length. Myofibrils are contractile portions of muscle fibers.

INJURIES

A fracture is a break or a crack of a bone. It may be open or close.

A sprain occur when ligaments or tendons near a joint torn or stretched.

A dislocation is a separation of a bone from its joint.

A common type of muscle problem that has no known cause is a muscle cramp.

EXERCISES

Resistance Training is another name of exercising your muscles using an opposing force i.e dumb

bells or resistance bands. In the old days it used to be called "weight training", but this phrase invoked

images of huge sweaty men with bulging biceps and wasn't very popular with women.

Resistance exercise in any form of exercise that forces your skeletal muscles (not the involuntary

muscles of your heart, lungs, etc.) to contract.

 Types of Resistance Exercise

1. Bodyweight- this uses only your body weight to force your muscles to contract. It includes

exercises like pull-ups, push-ups and squats.

2. Free weights- using dumbells, barbells, and kettlebells helps to increase the strain placed on your

muscles, forcing those contractions and building muscles. Free weight training is considered the mosy

effective form of resistance exercises, as it engages secondary muscles and leads to more effective

muscle growth.

3. Weight machines- every gym has dozens of weight machines. Examples are Pec Deck, Cable

Machines, Leg Extension machine, etc. Weight machines are not as effective as free weights, but they

are a safer alternative for those

Aerobic Exercise is sometimes know as "cardio"- exercise that requires pumping of oxygenated

blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles. Aerobic Exercise stimulates the heart rate

and breathing rate to increase in a way that can be sustained for the exercise session.

HOW MUSCULAR SYSTEMS WORK WITH OTHER ORGAN SYSTEMS?

The muscular system works well with other major systems in the body. Like most systems in the body,

the muscular system does not work in isolation. The most obvious systems that interact with muscular

system are the skeletal system, the nervous system and the circulatory system. Muscles are also involved

in the digestive system, the respiratory system and the immune system.

The circulatory system brings nutrients to the muscles and takes away wastes. It also carries hormones

that regulate muscular activity. The pump for the circulatory system is the heart, which just so happens to

be a muscle. The muscular system interacts with the digestive system in several places. The muscles of

the jaw help to chew food, and then muscles that line the esophagus move food from the mouth to the

stomach. Muscles lining the intestines move digesting food along, and muscles control sphincters that
isolate the sections of the digestive system. Muscles also work in the respiratory system which is in the

diaphragm: a large, flat muscle that is in between the lungs and the intestines. It is the movement of the

diaphragm that causes the lungs to inflate and deflate.