How Muscles, Bones And Tendons Are Related?
Muscles, tendons and bones all belong to the locomotor system, also known as the musculoskeletal system.1 This is the system which enables someone to move around, it also give stability, support and form to the body.
The musculoskeletal system is made up of mainly bones, muscles, tendons, joints, cartilages and connective tissues. All of these acts together for any movement in the body.
Functions Of The Musculoskeletal System
- Enables movement in the body 2
- Support the body
- Maintain posture and stability in the body
- Protects internal organs
- Bones produce blood cells
- Bones stores and release minerals when needed
Skeletal System (Bones)
Skeletal system is comprised of bones, there are 206 bones in an adult body.3 There are two tissues in any bone: compact (dense) bone which is the solid part, and sponge (cancellous) bone. Compact bone is located in the outer aspect of the bone and the sponge bone is in the inside. Spongy bone is light weight which reduce the weight of the skeletal system and helps the muscles to easily move the bones. Each bone has different amounts of compact and spongy bone depending on the location, shape and amount of stress the bone has to undergo. More compact bone is present in bones which undergo heavy stress and more spongy bone is present in bones with less stress.
Joint is the place where two bones meet together and between the two bones a cartilage is present to prevent friction within the two bones. Joints are important for stability and movement, without joints movement between bones would be impossible.
Muscles
There about 600 muscles in an adult body. Muscles helps to move the bones and which helps in movement of the body. There are three types of muscles: skeletal (striated) muscles, cardiac muscles and smooth muscles. The muscle types that involve in movement are skeletal muscles and smooth muscle. Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles whereas smooth muscles are involuntary muscles.
Skeletal muscles are called striated because they appear as horizontal strips when looked from the microscope. Along with the skeletal system, muscles help to bring shape to the body and help in the movements of the body. Skeletal muscles become easily tired and needs rest to perform the function effectively. Skeletal muscles are attached to the bone near a joint by a tendon. Muscles contract in order to move the bone. Let’s see from an example, if you want to move your arm, the thought sends a signal from the brain to the relevant muscles through the nerves to contract. When the muscles contract the bone/s move with that which cause the movement of the arm.
Smooth muscles are found in the walls of the stomach, intestines, and blood vessels. As, the names say they appear smooth, it takes more time to contract than the skeletal muscles. However, the contraction lasts longer and smooth muscles doesn’t get tired easily.
Tendons
As, I mentioned above muscles are joined to the bone through tendons. It’s a flexible band comprise of fibrous connective tissue. It transmits force between muscle and bone. There are three regions in the tendon: the myotendinous junction, tendon proper area and bone-tendon junction. The tendon transduces the force that was created by the contraction of the muscle to the bone around a joint. This enables movement of a joint.
Now, you can understand how muscles, tendons and bones are related, they are all part of the musculoskeletal system which enables your movement. If one muscle, tendon or bone is damaged, then you cannot move that part of your body properly. All parts need to function properly to produce movement.
Summary
Muscles, tendons and bones all belong to the locomotor system, also known as the musculoskeletal system. This is the system which enables movement, stability, and support the body. the place where two bones meet together is known as joints. The muscles are connected to the bone near a joint through a tendon, which enables movement of the joint through muscle contraction.
