Naming and Arrangement of

Skeletal Muscles
 Direction of Muscle Fibers
• Named in reference to imaginary line, usually
the midline of the body or the long axis of the
limb bone.

• Rectus – straight
– Its fibers run parallel to the imaginary line
• Example Rectus Femoris is the straight muscle
of the thigh

• Oblique
– Muscle fibers run obliquely/ slant
 Relative size of the muscle
• Maximus – largest

• Minimus –smallest

• Example gluteus maximus is the largest

muscle of the gluteus muscle group
 Location of the muscle
• Named for the bone in which they are
associated

• Example:
Temporalis and frontalis muscles overlie the
temporal and frontal bones of the skull
 Number of origins
• Biceps, triceps, quadriceps

• Example
– The biceps muscles of the arm has two head or
origins, and the triceps muscles has three.
 Location of the muscles origin and insertion

• Named for their attachment sites

• Example
Sternocleidomastoid muscles –
origin: sternum and clavicle
insertion: mastoid process of the temporal
bone
 Shape of the muscle
• Muscles distinctive shapes helps to identify
them.

• Example:
– Deltoid muscle is roughly triangular
– Deltoid means triangular
 Action of the Muscle
• Named for their actions, such as flexor,
extensor, adductor

• Example
Adductor muscles of the thigh
Extensor muscles of the wrist
Arrangement of fascicles
 Circular
• Fascicles are arranged in concentric rings

• Usually found in body openings, termed as

sphincters

• Example: Orbicularis muscles surrounding the

eyes and mouth
 Convergent
• Fascicles converge toward a single insertion
tendon

• Triangular or fan-shaped

• Example: pectoralis major of the anterior

thorax
 Parallel
• Length of the fascicles run parallel to the long
axis of the muscle.
• Strap-like
• A modification of parallel arrangement is
called fusiform
• Spindle-shaped muscle
– biceps brachii of the forearm
 Pennate
• Feather pattern
• Short fascicles attach obliquely to a central
tendon
• If the fascicles insert only to one side of the
tendon – unipennate
• Opposite sides – bipennate
• Several different sides - multipennate
• A muscle fascicle arrangement determines its
range of motion and power.

• The longer and the more nearly parallel to a

long axis, the more muscle can shorten but
not usually powerful.
• Muscle power depends on total number of
muscles.

• Bipennate and multipennate shorten very

little but are very powerful