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Muscles Facts & Worksheets

Muscles are made up of a bundle of fibrous tissue in an organism that is able to contract and relax. Muscles produce movement or maintain the position of parts of the body.

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Muscles are made up of a bundle of fibrous tissue in an organism that is able to contract and relax. Muscles produce movement or maintain the position of parts of the body. The human body’s weight is 40% muscles. Together there are muscle groups that forms the whole muscular system.

See the fact file below for more information on the muscles or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Muscles worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

NUMBER OF MUSCLES IN THE HUMAN BODY

  • There are 700 named muscles that are attached to the skeletal system or the bones.
  • Muscles are responsible for movement.
  • All of these muscles are distinct from each other.
  • Each of these muscles are made up of tissues, blood vessels, tendons, and nerves.
  • All of these are utilized to transport signals, chemicals and substances through the body.

TYPES OF MUSCLES

  • There are three types of muscles: Visceral muscles, Cardiac muscles, and Skeletal muscles.

VISCERAL MUSCLES

  • Visceral muscles, also known as smooth muscles, are muscles found inside the organs like the intestines and blood vessels.
  • A visceral muscle is considered the weakest of all muscle tissue.
  • Visceral muscles contract to move substances through the organ.
  • They are also known as involuntary muscles as it is controlled by the unconscious part of the brain.
  • You cannot control it nor stop its movement at will. It functions by itself.
  • Visceral muscles are uniform in appearance in a microscopic perspective, which is why it is often described as the smooth muscle compared to the banded appearance of the cardiac and skeletal muscles.

CARDIAC MUSCLES

  • Cardiac muscles are only found inside the heart, and it is responsible for our heartbeats.
  • It is also involuntary, but hormones and signals from the brain could regulate or adjust the rate of contraction.
  • The cardiac muscle stimulates itself to contract.
  • A pacemaker is a device installed to the heart of a person who has an irregular heartbeat.
  • A pacemaker is only an artificial replacement for the real thing.
  • The natural pacemaker of the heart is also made up of cardiac muscles, it stimulates other cardiac muscles to contract.
  • The Cardiac muscle is called autorhythmic because of its self-stimulation.
  • When viewed under a microscope, the cells of the cardiac muscles appear to have light and dark stripes.
  • This is a striated pattern, and striations indicate that a muscle is very strong.
  • Creatively enough, the cells of cardiac muscles are branched X or Y shaped cells tightly joined together by a unique junction called intercalated disks—this connection looks like fingers interlocking, bonding two cells strongly.

SKELETAL MUSCLES

  • The Skeletal Muscle is the only muscle that is controlled voluntarily.
  • Every physical movement done by an individual at will or consciously is utilizing the skeletal muscles.
  • The movement or function of the skeletal muscle is to contract to move the parts of the body closer to the bone it is attached to.
  • Usually, a skeletal muscle is attached to two bones across the joint, allowing the muscle to move parts of the bones closer to each other.
  • A progenitor cell is a cell that could form into one or more kinds of cell.
  • The muscle is made up of lumps of progenitor cells.
  • Together, these progenitor cells form a long, straight, multinucleated fiber.
  • Skeletal muscles are also striated, so they are very strong.
  • Skeletal muscles are not inside the bone, but the name is derived due to the fact that they are always attached to the skeleton in at least one place.
  • Most muscles are glued to the bones via tendons.
  • Tendons are tough bands of dense regular connective tissue whose strong collagen fibers firmly attach muscles to bones.

NAMING SKELETAL MUSCLES

  • Skeletal muscles could be named according to their location, origin, and insertion, number of origins, shape, size, direction, and function.
  • Location — muscles derive their names according to their anatomical region. For example, the rectus abdominis and transversus abdominis are found in the abdominal region.
  • Some muscles are named after the part of the bone they are attached to. Take tibialis anterior for example, named after the anterior portion of the tibia, a bone in the lower-leg.
  • Origin and Insertion — muscles named based on their connection to a stationary bone as their origin, and a moving bone as their insertion. An example is the sternocleidomastoid that connects the sternum and clavicle, and found on the side of the neck.
  • Numbers of Origins — muscles connected to more than one bone. Like the biceps with 2 origins, the triceps with 3, and quadriceps with 4.
  • Shape, Size, Direction — The deltoid is named after its delta or triangular shape. The gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus are all found in one region, and are large, medium, and small correspondingly. The rectus abdominis runs straight up and down. The transversus abdominis runs from left to right.
  • Function — the flexor muscles flex the wrist and the fingers. The supinator is a muscle that supinates the wrist, enabling it to roll over to face palm up.

Muscles Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the muscles across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Muscles worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the muscles which are made up of a bundle of fibrous tissue in an organism that is able to contract and relax. Muscles produce movement or maintain the position of parts of the body. The human body’s weight is 40% muscles. Together there are muscle groups that forms the whole muscular system.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Muscles Facts
  • Vocabulary Review
  • Fact or Bluff
  • Comparing Types
  • Completing Sentences
  • Muscles Crossword
  • Naming Skeletal Muscles
  • Grouping Together
  • Let’s Exercise!
  • Muscle Acrostics
  • My Muscles

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Link will appear as Muscles Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, September 26, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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