Describe the process of muscle contractions
Describe the process of muscle contractions (movement or function)
Career Relevancy
As a Medical Assistant, your job is to advocate for your patients and educate them. To do so, you must understand how muscles contract. Understanding the basic movements and functions of the muscles is required to confidently treat your patients. This will help you diagnose any problems your patients are experiencing and will help you explain helpful strategies that will enable your patients to care for their muscles.
Background
Grouped into two types (flexors and extensors), muscles are responsible for movement and maintaining the body’s posture and position. There are over 600 muscles that help us move and make up about half of the body’s weight. Made of striated tissue, muscles expand and contract with every movement the body makes, thereby causing movement. When you understand the body’s muscles better, you can better care for them and avoid potential injuries.
Muscle Types
There are three types of muscles, and they each serve a specific purpose and have a unique structure.
Skeletal. These muscles are responsible for moving bones by responding to voluntary messages from the nervous system. Skeletal muscles, comprised of long muscle fibers, are striated in appearance, and they move by contracting and relaxing. The skeletal muscles are responsible for chewing, moving the neck, controlling facial expressions, and moving the chest, stomach, back, shoulder, arms, hands, fingers, legs, ankles, and feet.
Flexors and extensors are two types of skeletal muscles. They are controlled voluntarily, such as during a workout. As they bend and straighten, they facilitate movement in other muscle groups during exercise.
Flexors are responsible for bending joints. The joints bend as the flexors contract and pull on the bone, like with a bicep curl.
Responsible for extending and straightening joints, extensor muscles contract during activities such as jogging or walking.
Smooth. Smooth muscles are the weakest muscle type, and they contract involuntarily as they respond to messages from the autonomic nervous system. While they contract more slowly than skeletal muscles, smooth muscles can sustain their contractions longer. Making up elastic organs like the stomach and bladder, smooth muscles regularly adapt their shape according to various body functions. Smooth muscles can also be found in the eyes, digestive tract, and blood vessels.
Cardiac. Arguably the most important muscle, the heart muscle is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. There are three layers of the heart’s wall, with the middle layer (the myocardium) in charge of pumping.
Muscle Functions
Muscles are primarily responsible for the movement of the body, and they are the body’s only tissue that can contract, causing movement. Some of these movements are voluntary and are easily controllable. Other movements are involuntary and are done automatically.
Muscles also help the body maintain its posture and position. The muscles that allow your body to maintain its posture are some of the strongest since they hold the body up all day without growing fatigued.
Another function of muscles is the movement or transportation of substances, such as food or blood, within the body from one location to another.
Finally, muscles are responsible for generating body heat. Our body’s natural heat is caused by many small muscles contracting. When the body overexerts itself, the muscles contract more than usual, which causes the body’s temperature to rise, resulting in sweating.
Resources and References
Argosy Publishing, Inc. (2019). Muscle Tissue Types | Learn Muscular Anatomy. Retrieved from https://www.visiblebody.com/learn/muscular/muscle-types (Links to an external site.)
Bailey, R. (2019, January 21). Facts About Muscle Tissue. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/muscle-tissue-anatomy-373195 (Links to an external site.)
Barclay, T., P. (2018, June 15). Muscular System (S. Curreli MD, PhD, Ed.). Retrieved from https://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html (Links to an external site.)
Prompt
For your main post, imagine your patient, Mrs. Hainley, comes into the office complaining of a lack of muscle strength. She says she used to pitch for her college softball team, and she’s had issues ever since. She is considering taking up the sport again and is asking about creatine supplements and other muscle improving options.
For your initial post, discuss if supplements like creatine are safe ways to gain her edge back or if there are better ways to improve muscle strength.
For your peer replies, examine the stance of your peer and find ways to improve on the stance chosen, or discuss the issues with the chosen route of treatment.
For your citation, you might use articles that discuss common muscle injuries. You can also find articles from experts that suggest how to manage muscular pain without medication.
Your initial and reply posts should work to develop a group understanding of this topic. Challenge each other. Build on each other. Always be respectful but discuss this and figure it out together.
Reply Requirements
You must submit:
1 main post of 150+ words with 1 in-text citation and reference (follow the Institution Writing Guidelines)
2 follow-up posts (replies) of 50+ words
Responses can be addressed to both your initial thread and other threads but must be:
Your own words (no copy and paste)
Unique (no repeating something you already said)
Substantial in nature, which means there has to be some meat to the reply not something like: “Good job, Rasha, your post is excellent.” A substantial post will do one of the following:
Extend the conversation deeper,
Challenge the post being responded to, or
Take the conversation in a career-relevant tangent
Remember that part of the discussion grade is submitting on time and using proper grammar, spelling, etc. You’re training to be a professional—write like it.
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