INTRODUCTION TO MYOLOGY
Dr Mohamad Aris Mohd Moklas (PhD)
Department of Human Anatomy
FPSK UPM
[email protected]03 8947 2330/2331/2783
MYOLOGY
• From where the name ‘muscle’ arise?
– It arises from the word ‘mus’, which means ‘mouse’
in Greek.
– One whole muscle looks like a mouse.
– The fleshy belly of the muscle looks like the body of
the mouse. The fibrous tendon at one end looks like
the tail of the mouse.
– How much percentage of our body weight is the
muscle weight?
• Healthy adult: male 42%, female 36% (skeletal muscle!)
CHARACTERISTICS FEATURES OF MUSCLES
• What are the characteristic features of muscle?
– Excitability
• Ability to receive and respond to stimuli.
– Contractibility
• Ability to shorten and thicken when a sufficient stimulus is
received.
– Extensibility
• Ability to strecth or relax.
– Elasticity
• Ability to return to its original shape after contraction or
extension.
TYPES OF MUSCLE
• How are muscles categorized?
• Based on;
– Microscopic appearance
– Nervous control
– Location
• How many types of muscle are there and what are
they?
– Skeletal
– Cardiac
– Smooth
*one muscle fiber is one muscle cell!
Skeletal muscle Smooth muscle Cardiac muscle
FUNCTIONS
• What are the functions of the muscles?
• Movements
– Skeletal muscle: for movement of the body and limbs.
– Cardiac muscle: for contraction of heart to pump the
blood throughout the body.
– Smooth muscle: for contraction of the wall of hollow
organs and blood vessels.
• Maintenance of posture
– Skeletal muscle: by contraction, maintain the posture
(isometric contraction).
• Production of heat
– Body heat is mainly produced by muscle contraction.
SMOOTH MUSCLE
• Describe in brief the smooth muscle fibers
contraction?
– Involuntary, slow and weak contraction.
• Which nervous system innervate them?
– They are innervated by autonomic nervous
system.
• Smooth muscles are found in
– ……………….……………….……………….
SMOOTH MUSCLE
- Smooth muscle is responsible for the
contractility of hollow organs, such as
blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract,
the bladder, the uterus, etc.
- Smooth muscle fibers are much smaller (2-
10 m in diameter) than skeletal muscle
fibers (10-100 m).
CARDIAC MUSCLE
• Describe in brief the contraction
and nerve supply of cardiac muscle.
– Involuntary
– Strong, quick continuous contraction.
– Innervated by autonomic nervous
system.
• Where do u find the cardiac muscle
fibers?
– Heart muscle
– large blood vessels adjacent to the
heart (aorta, vena cava).
SKELETAL MUSCLE
• There are more than 639 skeletal muscles in
your body!
• 30 of them are facial muscles.
– which help you create all those different faces of
happiness, surprise, joy, sorrow, sadness, fright, etc.
• Muscles surrounding your eye are the busiest
muscles in your body.
– Research indicates that you probably blink them
more than 100,000 times a day!
• Biggest muscle in your body is the gluteus
maximus (your butt).
SKELETAL MUSCLE
• Why the ‘skeletal muscles’ are
called such?
– Because they are usually
attached to skeleton.
• What are the other names?
– Striated muscles; because they
have striation.
– Voluntary muscle; because they
can be controlled voluntarily.
SKELETAL MUSCLE
• What are the features of the skeletal muscle
fibers?
– Voluntary
– Strong, quick and discontinuous contraction.
– Innervated by somatic nervous system.
– Overworked will lead to muscle exhaustion and
fatigue.
PARTS OF THE SKELETAL MUSCLE
• What are the main parts of the skeletal
muscle?
– The central, muscular part is the belly.
• The belly is for contraction and shortening.
– Two ends are tapered, made up of fibrous
tissue and called tendon.
flesh portion - belly
tendinous portion (tendon)
PARTS OF THE SKELETAL MUSCLE
• What is aponeurosis?
– Flat tendon / sheet-like tendon.
– Found in flat muscle.
aponeurosis
PARTS OF THE SKELETAL MUSCLE
• What is raphe?
• A raphe is an interdigitation of the tendinous ends of fibers
of flat muscles.
ARRANGEMENT OF SKELETAL MUSCLE FIBERS
• What are the arrangement of the skeletal
muscle fibers?
– Fusiform
– Parallel
– Convergent
– Unipennate
– Bipennate
– Multipennate
– Circular
FUSIFORM
• Fusiform: spindle-shaped.
– muscle fibers may converge to a
point at the ends
– Eg: Biceps brachii
PARALLEL
• Parallel: fibers are parallel, strap-
like.
– Eg: Rectus abdominis
CONVERGENT
• Convergent: fibers are arranged in fan-
shaped.
– Eg: Pectoralis major
UNIPENNATE
• Unipennate: fibers run obliquely and
attached to one side of the tendon.
– Eg: Flexor pollicis longus (muscle of the thumb)
BIPENNATE
• Bipennate: muscle fibers are oblique and
attached to both side of the tendon. Feather-
shaped.
– Eg: Rectus femoris (muscle of the thigh)
MULTIPENNATE
• Multipennate: delta-shaped muscle. Many
bipennates arranged side-by-side.
– Eg: deltoid muscle.
SPHINCTERICAL
• Sphincterical: muscle fibers run circular.
– Eg: Orbicularis oculi, Orbicularis oris
CRITERIA IN NAMING THE SKELETAL MUSCLES
• Skeletal muscles are given name based on their:
– Size
– Length
– Shape
– Action
– Number of origin
– Site of attachment (origin & insertion)
– Direction of the muscle fibers
– Effected structure
– Location (region, in relation to layer of depth)
– Orientation in relation to the midline of the body
shape
Name Shape
Deltoid triangular
Teres round
Rectus straight
size
Name Size
Major large
Latissimus broadest
Longissimus longest
number of heads or bellies
Name Number of
Heads / Bellies
Biceps 2 heads
Triceps 3 heads
Quadriceps 4 heads
Digastric 2 bellies
position
Name Position
Pectoralis - of the chest
Supraspinatus - above spine of
scapula
Brachii - of the arm
depth
Name Depth
Profundus deep
Superficialis superficial
Externus external
attachments
Name Attachments
Sternocleidomastoid from sternum and
clavicle to mastoid
process
Coracobrachialis from coracoid process
to arm
actions
Name Actions
Extensor Extend
Flexor Flex
Constrictor constrict
These names are commonly used in combination, for example,
flexor pollicis longus (long flexor of the thumb).
NAMIMG THE SKELETAL MUSCLES
• Gluteus maximus, Gluteus medius, Gluteus
minimus
– Indicates: region & size.
• Abductor policis brevis, Abductor policis
longus
– Indicates: action, affected structure and length
respectively.
– policis = thumb, brevis = short, longus = long
NAMIMG THE SKELETAL MUSCLES
• Pronator quadratus
– Indicates: action & shape respectively.
• External oblique abdominis
– Indicates: in relation to the layers, direction of
muscle fibers and region respectively.
NAMIMG THE SKELETAL MUSCLES
• Quadriceps femoris
– Indicates: number of origin & region respectively.
• Flexor digitorum profundus
– Indicates: action, affected structure & depth of
the position respectively.
NAMIMG THE SKELETAL MUSCLES
• Sternocledomastoid
– Indicates: origin & insertion respectively.
• Origin: usually the proximal end of the muscle that
remains fixed during muscle contraction.
• Insertion: usually the distal end of the muscle that
moves during muscle contraction.
• Pterygoid lateral
– Indicates: site of attachment and the position of
the muscle in relation to the midline of the body
compare to another muscle.
INVOLVEMENT OF MUSCLES IN VARIOUS
MOVEMENTS
• What is prime mover & antagonist?
– Prime mover (agonist): main muscle for
particular movement.
• Eg: biceps brachii in flexion of the elbow.
– Antagonist: it opposes the prime mover.
• Eg: triceps opposes the biceps in flexion of elbow.
*However, triceps become prime mover and biceps
become antagonist in extension of elbow.
INVOLVEMENT OF MUSCLES IN VARIOUS
MOVEMENTS
• What is synergist muscle?
• Prime mover muscles sometimes cross more
than one joint.
• To prevent unwanted movements in an
intermediate joint, groups of muscles called
synergists contract and stabilize the
intermediate joints.
Synergist
For example, the flexor and extensor muscles of the carpus
contract to fix the wrist joint, and this allows the long flexor
and extensor muscles of the fingers to work efficiently
INVOLVEMENT OF MUSCLES IN VARIOUS
MOVEMENTS
• What are fixator muscles?
– They are usually two groups on opposite side of
the structure they attached.
– They contract isometrically (same length) and
stabilized the structure.
– Thus, the prime mover which originates from this
– Eg: Suprahyoid & infrahyoid muscles (fixators)
fixed the hyoid bone to which tongue muscles
are attached and get a stable base.
BLOOD SUPPLY OF THE MUSCLE
• Give blood supply of the muscles.
• Muscle are richly supplied with blood.
• They arise from nearby blood vessels.
• Blood vessels (arteries and veins) together
with nerves form neurovascular bundle.
INNERVATION OF THE VOLUNTARY (SKELETAL)
MUSCLES
• Give innervation of the skeletal muscles.
• Each skeletal muscle is supplied by somatic
nervous system.
• Nerve fibers in the spinal nerve include:
motor, sensory & sympathetic.
INNERVATION OF THE INVOLUNTARY MUSCLES
• Give innervation of the involuntary muscles.
• Involuntary muscles (smooth & cardiac
muscle fibers) are innervated by the
autonomic nervous system (sympathetic &
parasympathetic
APPLIED ANATOMY
• Loss of motor function could be due to many
causes:
– Lesion of the motor nerve pathways.
– Neurotransmitter deficiency.
– Motor neuron diseases.
APPLIED ANATOMY
• Parkinson disease.
– Neurotransmitter deficiency in the brain which
affects the muscle coordination.
• Myasthenia gravis.
– Neurotransmitter deficiency at neuromuscular
junction.
– Dropping of the upper eye lid.
– Slow and weak in muscular movements.
• Neuromuscular disease.
– Unable to move all the skeletal muscles except
muscle of facial expressions.
