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The origin of a muscle is the bone, typically proximal, which has greater mass and is more stable during a contraction than a muscle's insertion. [14] For example, with the latissimus dorsi muscle, the origin site is the torso, and the insertion is the arm. When this muscle contracts, normally the arm moves due to having less mass than the torso.
Depiction of smooth muscle contraction. Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. [1] [2] In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as when holding something heavy in the same position. [1]
When necessary, the maximal number of motor units in a muscle can be recruited simultaneously, producing the maximum force of contraction for that muscle, but this cannot last for very long because of the energy requirements to sustain the contraction. To prevent complete muscle fatigue, motor units are generally not all simultaneously active ...
The muscle fibers belonging to one motor unit can be spread throughout part, or most of the entire muscle, depending on the number of fibers and size of the muscle. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] When a motor neuron is activated, all of the muscle fibers innervated by the motor neuron are stimulated and contract.
There are four main types of muscle contraction: isometric, isotonic, eccentric and concentric. [29] Isometric contractions are skeletal muscle contractions that do not cause movement of the muscle. and isotonic contractions are skeletal muscle contractions that do cause movement. Eccentric contraction is when a muscle moves under a load ...
Thickness is defined as the area between the aponeuroses of the muscle. A low gear ratio occurs when the contraction velocity of the whole muscle and individual fibers is approximately the same, resulting in a gear ratio of 1. Conditions resulting in a low gear ratio include high force and low velocity contraction of the whole muscle.
The sliding filament theory explains the mechanism of muscle contraction based on muscle proteins that slide past each other to generate movement. [1] According to the sliding filament theory, the myosin ( thick filaments ) of muscle fibers slide past the actin ( thin filaments ) during muscle contraction, while the two groups of filaments ...
During muscle contraction, the I band will shorten, while an A band will maintain its width. [2] The muscle is made up of several myofibrils packed into functional units surrounded by different layers of connective tissues (epimysium, perimysium, and endomysium). The main contractile unit is mainly composed of protein filaments (myofilaments ...