Properties of Muscle Fibre

• Muscles are named according to their shape, size, muscle fibre orientation, action, number of origins, function, or location.
• The purpose of the muscular system is movement (ex. breathing, eating, heartbeat, etc), support, and heat production.
• The 3 different types of muscles are skeletal, cardiac, and smooth.
• Skeletal muscles contract voluntarily, are striated, and attach to bones by tendons and other tissue.
• Cardiac muscles contract involuntarily, are striated, and do not attach to any bone. Cardiac muscle is all found in the heart.
• Smooth muscles are involuntary, non-striated, and surround the body's internal organs.
• Irritability refers to muscle's ability to respond to stimuli.
• Contractibility refers to muscle's ability to shorten in length.
• Elasticity refers to the muscle's ability to stretch and return to it's resting position.
• Extensibility refers to the muscle's ability to extend in length.
• Conductivity refers to the muscle's ability to transmit nerve impulses.
• Muscles attach to bones through indirect attachment and direct attachment. An indirect attachment is when the epimysium extends past the muscle and forms a tendon that attaches to the periosteum of the bone. A direct attachment is when the epimysium fuses with the periosteum directly.
• Concentric muscle contraction refers to muscle contraction in which the muscle fibres shorten.
• Eccentric muscle contraction refers to contraction in which the muscle fibres lengthen.
• Isometric muscle contraction refers to contraction in which the muscle fibre doesn't change length.
• Isotonic exercise refers to exercise that involves the controlled shortening and lengthening of muscles.
• Isometric exercise refers to exercise where there is no motion and muscle fibres maintain a constant length.
• Isokinetic exercise combines features of isometric and isotonic training, and is characterized by a constant speed of movement/muscle contractions.