Muscular system

Introduction
o Myology (Sarcology):
– Is a science concerned with muscles &
their accessory parts like tendons ,
aponeurosis, bursae & fasciae.
o Muscles are organs:
– Capable of contraction which is
important in locomotion & movement of
various parts of the body with respect to
one another.
 Introduction….
• There are more than 600 muscles in the
human body.
• Most of these muscle are attached to the
bones by tendons.
• A few muscles are attached to the
undersurface of the skin.
• The muscular system consists of all the
muscles of the body.
More than 50% of body weight is
muscle !
 Introduction….
o Muscle cells (muscle fibers)
– They are long and narrow when relaxed
– Specialized contractile cells.
– They are organized into tissues that
move body parts or temporarily alter the
shape of internal organs
– Associated connective tissue conveys
nerve fibers and capillaries to the
muscle cells as it binds them into
bundles or fascicles.
 Functions of muscles
 Production of Movement:
– Movement of body parts
– Movement of blood through the heart and the
circulatory vessels
– Movement of lymph through the lymphatic vessels
– Movement of food & waste through the GI tract
– Movement of bile out of the gallbladder and into
the digestive tract
– Movement of urine through the urinary tract
– Movement of semen through the male
reproductive tract and female reproductive tract
– Movement of a newborn through the birth canal
 Functions of muscles…
 Maintaining Posture and Body
Position:
– Muscle contraction is constantly allowing
us to remain upright
– The muscles of your neck are keeping
your head up right now
– As you stand, your leg muscles keep you
on two feet
 Thermo genesis
– Generation of heat
– Occurs via shivering – an involuntary
contraction of skeletal muscle
 Functions of muscles…
 Stabilization of joints:
– Muscles keep the tendons that cross the
joint nice and taut
– This does a wonderful job of maintaining
the integrity of the joint
 Supporting soft tissues within body
cavities
 Guarding entrances & exits of the
body
 Characteristics of Muscle
 Excitability:
Tissue
– The ability to receive and respond to a
stimulus
 Contractility
– Is the ability to shorten forcibly when
adequately stimulated
– This is the defining property of muscle
tissue
 Extensibility :
– The ability to be stretched or extend
 Elasticity:
– Is the ability of a muscle cell to recoil
 Types of muscles
• The three types of muscle tissue are skeletal,
cardiac, and smooth
• These types differ in structure, location, function,
and means of activation
1. Skeletal muscle: Attached to bones and moves
bones and other structures
2. Cardiac muscle: Forms most of the walls of the
heart, and is autonomic
3. Smooth muscle: Forms part of the walls of
most vessels and hollow organs, moves
substances through viscera such as the intestine,
and controls movement through blood vessels.
Types of Muscle

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 Skeletal Muscle
• Associated with & attached to the skeleton
• Under our conscious (voluntary) control
• Microscopically the tissue appears
striated
• Cells are long, cylindrical & multinucleated
• Contracts rapidly but tires easily
• Is responsible for overall body motility
• There are about 600 skeletal muscles in
the human body constituting about 40% of
the body weight
 Cardiac Muscle
• Is involuntary visceral muscle, Unconsciously
(involuntarily) controlled
• Forms most of the walls of the heart
(“Makes up myocardium of heart”)
• Microscopically appears striated like skeletal
muscle but it is not voluntary
• Cells are short, branching & have one or two
nucleus
• Cells are connected to each other at
intercalated discs
 Contracts at a fairly steady rate set by the
heart’s pacemaker
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 Smooth Muscle
• Found in the walls of hollow visceral
organs, such as the stomach, urinary
bladder, and respiratory passages and
walls of most vessels
• Forces food and other substances through
internal body channels by coordinated
sequential contractions (“pulsations or
peristaltic contractions”).
• Tissue is non-striated & involuntary
• Cells are short, spindle-shaped & have a
single nucleus
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 Contraction of Muscles
• Skeletal muscles function by contracting
• They pull and never push.
• When a muscle contracts and shortens,
one of its attachments usually remains
fixed while the other (more mobile)
attachment is pulled toward it, often
resulting in movement.
• When muscles contract, the fibers shorten
to about 70% of their resting length.
Contraction of Muscles…
 Skeletal muscle can undergo contraction in
three ways:
 Reflexive contraction:
– Is automatic and not voluntarily
controlled
– For example, respiratory movements of
the diaphragm.
 Tonic contraction:
– Is a slight contraction (muscle tone) that
does not produce movement or active
resistance but gives the muscle
firmness, assisting the stability of
 Contraction of Muscles…
 Phasic contraction - there are two main types
of phasic (active) muscle contractions:
o Isotonic contractions - in which the muscle
changes length in relationship to the production
of movement
o There are two forms of isotonic
contraction:
Concentric contraction - in which
movement occurs owing to muscle
shortening (e.g., the deltoid shortens to raise
the arm into abduction) and
Eccentric contraction - in which the
contracting muscle lengthens (e.g., the
deltoid lengthens to lower arm in adduction).
Contraction of Muscles…
o Isometric contractions - in which
muscle length remains the same no
movement occurs, but the force (muscle
tension) is increased above tonic levels
(e.g., the deltoid holds the arm in
abduction).
 Anatomy of skeletal muscles

o Skeletal muscle constituting about 40% of

the body weight.
o Are attached to bones at either end or
both ends
o Are innervated by voluntary or somatic
nerves which arise either from cranial or
spinal nerves.
 Connective Tissue
Wrappings
o Each skeletal muscle is a discrete organ with thousands of
fibers.
o Muscle fibers predominate the tissue but it also contains
blood vessels, nerve fibers, and connective tissue
o Endomysium: fine sheath of CT, covering the individual
muscle fibers
o Perimysium: Invests a groups of fibers together into
bundles called fascicle
o Epimysium : surround the entire muscle

– Separates the muscle from surrounding tissue

Anatomy of skeletal muscles

epimysium
tendon perimysium

Muscle
Fascicle

Skeletal Endomysiu
muscle m
Skeletal
Surrounded by muscle
fiber
epimysium (cell)

Surrounded
by
endomysiu
 Connective Tissue
Wrappings…
• All the connective tissue layers are
continuous with one another as well as
with the tendons that join muscles to bone
• External to the epimysium is the deep
fascia that binds muscles into functional
groups
• When muscle fibers contract they pull
these connective tissue sheaths which in
turn transmit the force to the bone to be
moved
 Connective Tissue
Wrappings…
 Deep fascia:
– External to the epimysium
– Is a sheet of fibrous tissue that invests the
muscles and helps support them by serving
as an elastic sheath or stocking.
– Functions:
Provides origins or insertions for
muscles
Forms fibrous sheaths or retinacula for
tendons, and
Forms potential pathways for infection
or extravasation of fluids.
 Connective Tissue
Wrappings…
 Superficial Fascia:
– Is a loose connective tissue between the
dermis and the deep (investing) fascia
– Has a fatty superficial layer (fat,
cutaneous vessels, nerves, lymphatics,
and glands) and a membranous deep
layer.
 Attachments
 Most skeletal muscles span joints and attach
to bones (or other structures) in at least two
places.
o Origin
 Attachment of a muscle that remains
relatively fixed during muscular contraction
 Generally a more proximal or axial
location
o Insertion
 Attachment of a muscle that moves during
muscular contraction
 Generally a more distal or appendicular
attachment
 Attachments…
 Muscle attachments, whether origin or
insertion, may be direct or indirect:
– Direct attachments have the
epimysium attaching directly to the
periosteum of the bone or
perichondrium of a cartilage
– Indirect attachments have the
epimysium attaching to a tendon or an
aponeurosis
 Origin of Coracoid
Biceps Brachii Process

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 Attachment to bones, cartilages, ligaments, fascia
or skin is by:
– Tendon:
Rounded cords of fibrous tissue
Transfer force of contraction from muscles to
bones
E.g. Tendon of limb muscles
– Aponeurosis:
 Flat sheets of fibrous tissue
 e.g aponeurosis of abdominal muscles
 Other associated terms:
– Bellies : A fleshy contractile portion of muscle
– Action: what joint movement a muscle produces i.e.
flexion, extension, abduction, etc.
– Raphe: An interdigitation of the tendinous ends of
fibers of flat muscles
Aponeurosis Raphe
 Muscle Architecture
• Arrangement of fascicles within a muscle
vary
• Arrangements result in differing shapes
and capabilities
• Common forms are:
– Parallel
– Fusiform
– Pennate: uni-, bi-, multi
– Convergent
– Circular or sphincteral
Muscle Architecture 36
 Muscle Architecture
Parallel
• The long axis of the fascicles
run parallel to the long axis of
the muscle
• Form long strap like muscles
that have greatest potential
for shortening
• Not very powerful
• E.g. Sartorius muscle
Fusiform muscles
• Thick in middle & tapered at
ends
• E.g. Biceps brachii m.
 Muscle Architecture
Convergent
• A convergent muscle
has a broad origin and
its fascicles converge
toward a single tendon
• Muscle has a broad
triangular shape
• Muscle can act upon
the joint from a variety
of positions
• E.g. Pectoralis major
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 Muscle Architecture
Circular
• Fascicular pattern is
arranged in concentric
rings
• Surround external body
openings which they
close by contracting
• This type of muscles are
called sphincters
• E.g. orbicularis oris
 Muscle Architecture
Pennate
 Pennate fascicles are short and they attach obliquely to a
central tendon
 Pennate muscles with the highest concentration of fibers,
shorten little, but are very powerful
 Tendon extends nearly in the entire length of muscle.
 Occur as
o Unipennate: Fascicles are arranged on only one side of the
tendon
E.g. Extensor digitorum longus muscle (EDL)
o Bipennate: Fascicles are arranged on both sides of
centrally positioned tendons
E.g. Rectus femoris muscle
o Multipennate: Fascicles attach obliquely from many
directions to several tendons.
E.g. Deltoid muscle
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 Naming of Skeletal Muscles
• Muscles are named according to several criteria:
• Location
 Intercostal, Temporalis
• Shape
 Deltoid, Trapezius, Rhomboid, Quadratus
• Relative size
 Maximus (largest), medius (medium), longus
(long), brevis ( short)
• Direction of muscle fibers
 Rectus (straight), transverse; oblique
• Number of origins
 Biceps; triceps; quadriceps
 Naming of Skeletal Muscles
• Attachment (origin and insertion)
 Naming muscles by attachments: the origin
is named first followed by its insertion
Sternocleidomastoid (sternum, clavicle &
mastoid process), sternohyoid
• Action (function) of the muscle
 Flexor, extensor, adductor,abductor,
opponens, levator, depressor
• Relative position
Anterior, Posterior, Internal, & External
• Naming with a combination of criteria:
 Flexorcarpi radialis longus
Flexor digitorum superficialis
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 Functional classification of muscles
• On the basis of their general functions in the body,
muscles are classified as:
• Prime mover (agonist):
– The muscle that has the major responsibility for
causing a particular movement
– It contracts concentrically to produce the desired
movement
– The biceps brachii is a prime mover of arm
flexion.
• Antagonist:
– Muscles that oppose, or reverse, a particular
movement
– When a prime mover is active, the antagonist
muscles may stretch or remain relaxed. a prime
mover and its
 Functional classification
• Synergist: of muscles
– Muscles that works together
– Helps prime movers in one of these ways:
Adding a little extra force to the same movement
Reducing undesirable or unnecessary movements
that might occur as the prime mover contracts
– In two joint muscles synergists stabilize a joint as
the muscle acts on the other
• Fixators
– Specialized synergists
– Serves to stabilize the bone upon which a prime
mover acts
– Serratus anterior holds the scapula against the
thorax while a prime mover acts upon the arm
 Division of skeletal
muscles
• The major divisions of the muscular system follow that of
the skeletal system:
1. Axial muscles:
– position head and spinal column
– move rib cage
– comprise about 60% of skeletal muscles
2. Appendicular muscles:
– support pectoral and pelvic girdles
– support limbs
– comprise about 40% of skeletal muscles
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