Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Depiction of smooth muscle contraction. Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. [1] [2] In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as when holding something heavy in the same position. [1]
The activation of more motor neurons will result in more muscle fibers being activated, and therefore a stronger muscle contraction. Motor unit recruitment is a measure of how many motor neurons are activated in a particular muscle, and therefore is a measure of how many muscle fibers of that muscle are activated.
Larger motor units contract along with small motor units until all muscle fibers in a single muscle are activated, thus producing the maximum muscle force. Temporal motor unit recruitment, or rate coding, deals with the frequency of activation of muscle fiber contractions.
Smooth muscle differs from skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle in terms of structure, function, regulation of contraction, and excitation-contraction coupling. However, smooth muscle tissue tends to demonstrate greater elasticity and function within a larger length-tension curve than striated muscle. This ability to stretch and still maintain ...
A myoclonic seizure (myo "muscle", clonic "jerk") is a sudden involuntary contraction of muscle groups. The muscle jerks consist of symmetric, mostly generalized jerks, localized in the arms and in the shoulders and also simultaneously with a head nod; both the arms may fling out together and simultaneously a head nod may occur.
Tonic vibration reflex is a sustained contraction of a muscle subjected to vibration. This reflex is caused by vibratory activation of muscle spindles — muscle receptors sensitive to stretch. Tonic vibration reflex is evoked by placing a vibrator — which in this case is typically an electrical motor with an eccentric load on its shaft ...
[1] [3] One muscle may be normal while the other is atrophic or hypertrophic; alternately, one muscle may be hypertrophic while the other is atrophic. [3] A decrease in muscle tone leads to continuous disuse and eventually muscular atrophy. The constant contraction of the agonist muscle with minimal resistance can result in a contracture.
There is a latency of around 18 ms between stretch of the patellar tendon and the beginning of contraction of the quadriceps femoris muscle. [5] This is a reflex of proprioception which helps maintain posture and balance , allowing to keep one's balance with little effort or conscious thought.