Ch. 7.5 Muscular System Key terms
What is abduction?
moving a body part away from the midline
What is contracture?
severe tightening of a flexor muscle resulting in bending of a joint
What is extension?
increasing the angle between two bones, or straightening a body part
What is muscle tone?
state of partially contracted muscles
What is rotation?
turning a body part around its own axis; for example, turning the head from side to side
What is adduction?
moving a body part toward the midline
What is dorsiflexion?
bending backward or bending the foot
What is a fascia?
a tough, sheetlike membrane that covers and protects the tissue
What is the muscular system?
a system made up of 600 muscles
What are skeletal muscles?
attached to bones and causes body movements
What are cardiac muscles?
muscles that form the walls of the heart and contract to circulate blood
What is elasticity?
allows the muscle to return to its original shape after it has contracted or stretched
What is flexion?
decreasing the angle between two bones, or bending a body part
What is the origin?
the end that doesn’t move when a muscle attaches to a bone
What is supination?
turning a body part upward
What is circumduction?
moving in a circle at a joint, or moving one end of a body part in a circle while the other end remains stationary, such as swinging an arm in a circle
What is excitability?
irritability, the ability to respond to a stimulus such as a nerve impulse
What is insertion?
the end that moves when the muscle contracts
What is plantar flexion?
bending forward or bending the foot away from the knee
What are tendons?
strong, tough, fibrous connective tissue cords
What is contractability?
muscle fibers that are stimulated by nerves contract, or become short and thick which causes movement
What is extensibility?
the ability to be stretched
What does involuntary mean?
functioning without conscious thought or control
turning a body part downward
What are visceral muscles?
contracts to cause movement in internal organs