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The motor system is the set of central and peripheral structures in the nervous system that support motor functions, i.e. movement. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Peripheral structures may include skeletal muscles and neural connections with muscle tissues. [ 2 ]
A single motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates are called a motor unit. For example, the rectus femoris contains approximately 1 million muscle fibers, which are controlled by around 1000 motor neurons. Activity in the motor neuron causes contraction in all of the innervated muscle fibers so that they function as a unit.
While individual muscle units' contract as a unit, the entire muscle can contract on a predetermined basis due to the structure of the motor unit. Motor unit coordination, balance, and control frequently come under the direction of the cerebellum of the brain. This allows for complex muscular coordination with little conscious effort, such as ...
The pyramidal tracts include both the corticobulbar tract and the corticospinal tract.These are aggregations of efferent nerve fibers from the upper motor neurons that travel from the cerebral cortex and terminate either in the brainstem (corticobulbar) or spinal cord (corticospinal) and are involved in the control of motor functions of the body.
The supplementary motor area (or SMA), has many proposed functions including the internally generated planning of movement, the planning of sequences of movement, and the coordination of the two sides of the body such as in bi-manual coordination. Located on the midline surface of the hemisphere anterior to the primary motor cortex.
A motor skill is a function that involves specific movements of the body's muscles to perform a certain task. These tasks could include walking, running, or riding a bike. In order to perform this skill, the body's nervous system, muscles, and brain have to all work together.
The largest nerve of the human body, the sciatic nerve, is the main branch that gives rami to the motor innervation of the muscles of the thigh, the leg, and the foot. Common peroneal nerve and its branches innervate some parts of the skin of the foot, the peroneal muscles of the leg, and the dorsal muscles of the foot.
Groups of motor units often work together as a motor pool to coordinate the contractions of a single muscle. The concept was proposed by Charles Scott Sherrington. [2] Usually muscle fibers in a motor unit are of the same fiber type. [3] When a motor unit is activated, all of its fibers contract.