Review: Introduction to the Muscular System

Here is what we have learned from Introduction to the Muscular System:

• One of the most predominant characteristics of skeletal muscle tissue is its contractility and nearly all movement in the body is the result of muscle contraction.
• Four functions of muscle contraction are movement, posture, joint stability, and heat production.
• Three types of muscle are skeletal, smooth, and cardiac.
• Each muscle fiber is surrounded by endomysium. The fibers are collected into bundles covered by perimysium. Many bundles, or fasciculi, are wrapped together by the epimysium to form a whole muscle.
• Muscles are attached to bones by tendons.
• Muscle features such as size, shape, direction of fibers, location, number of origin, origin and insertion, and action are often used in naming muscles.
• Four major muscle groups of the body include:
  • Muscles of the head and neck;
  • Muscles of the trunk;
  • Muscles of the upper extremity; and
  • Muscles of the lower extremity.