Muscle Movements, Roles, and Names Types of Body Movements

▪ Flexion
▪ Follow the Five Golden Rules for understanding ▪ Decreases the angle of the joint
skeletal muscle activity (in Table 6.2, shown next) ▪ Brings two bones closer together
▪ Typical of bending hinge joints (e.g., knee and
elbow) or ball-and-socket joints (e.g., the hip)

▪ Extension
▪ Opposite of flexion
▪ Increases angle between two bones
▪ Typical of straightening the elbow or knee
▪ Extension beyond 180º is hyperextension

Types of Body Movements

▪ Muscles are attached to no fewer than two

points

1. Origin: attachment to an immovable or less

movable bone
2. Insertion: attachment to a movable bone
▪ When the muscle contracts, the insertion
moves toward the origin
▪ Body movement occurs when muscles contract
across joints

Types of Body Movements

▪ Rotation
▪ Movement of a bone around its longitudinal
axis
▪ Common in ball-and-socket joints
▪ Example: moving the atlas around the dens of
axis (i.e., shaking your head “no”)
 ▪ Inversion
▪ Turning sole of foot medially

▪ Eversion
▪ Turning sole of foot laterally

Types of Body Movements

▪ Abduction
▪ Movement of a limb away from the midline

▪ Adduction
▪ Opposite of abduction
▪ Movement of a limb toward the midline
▪ Supination
▪ Forearm rotates laterally so palm faces anteriorly
▪ Radius and ulna are parallel

▪ Pronation
▪ Forearm rotates medially so palm faces posteriorly
▪ Radius and ulna cross each other like an X

▪ Circumduction
▪ Combination of flexion, extension,
abduction, and adduction
▪ Common in ball-and-socket joints
▪ Proximal end of bone is stationary, and distal ▪ Opposition
end moves in a circle ▪ Moving the thumb to touch the tips of other fingers on
the same hand

Special Movements
▪ Dorsiflexion
▪ Lifting the foot so that the superior surface
approaches the shin (toward the dorsum)

▪ Plantar flexion
▪ Pointing the toes away from the head
Interactions of Skeletal Muscles in the Body Naming Skeletal Muscles
▪ Muscles can only pull as they contract—not ▪ Muscles are named on the basis of several
push criteria
▪ In general, groups of muscles that produce  By direction of muscle fibers

opposite actions lie on opposite sides of a joint ▪ Example: rectus (straight)

▪ Prime mover—muscle with the major  By relative size of the muscle

responsibility for a certain movement ▪ Example: maximus (largest)

▪ Antagonist—muscle that opposes or reverses a  By location of the muscle

prime mover ▪ Example: temporalis (temporal bone)

▪ Synergist—muscle that aids a prime mover in a  By number of origins

movement or reduces undesirable movements ▪ Example: triceps (three heads)

▪ Fixator—specialized synergists that hold a bone  By location of the muscle’s origin and
still or stabilize the origin of a prime mover insertion
▪ Example: sterno (on the sternum)

 By shape of the muscle

▪ Example: deltoid (triangular)

 By action of the muscle

▪ Example: flexor and extensor (flexes or
extends a bone)
Muscles of Trunk, Shoulder, Arm
Developmental Aspects of the Muscular System
▪ Increasing muscular control reflects the
maturation of the nervous system
▪ Muscle control is achieved in a superior/inferior
and proximal/distal direction
▪ To remain healthy, muscles must be exercised
regularly
▪ Without exercise, muscles atrophy
▪ With extremely vigorous exercise, muscles
hypertrophy
▪ As we age, muscle mass decreases, and muscles
become more sinewy
▪ Exercise helps retain muscle mass and strength