Muscle types

This animation discusses the four functions of muscle and displays the three different types of muscle tissue in external and microscopic views.

Muscles perform four important body functions: maintain body posture, stabilize the joints, provide mobility, and generate heat that the body requires.

The body contains three types of muscle to perform these functions:
• Smooth muscle - involuntary muscle found in the walls of body organs; functions without conscious control
• Cardiac muscle - involuntary muscle found only in the walls of the heart; functions without conscious control
• Skeletal muscle - attaches to and covers the bony skeleton to provide movement of the body; the only type of muscle under voluntary or conscious control

Reviewed last on: 10/6/2008
Thomas N. Joseph, MD, Private Practice specializing in Orthopaedics, subspecialty Foot and Ankle, Camden Bone & Joint, Camden, SC. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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