Muscular System Movement
This article is intended for massage therapist that are reviewing or for students that are studying to pass the national certification exam.
Muscle movement - The primary functions of the muscular system are movement, psture, muscle tone, and heat production. Muscle to move bones is allways pulling on bones. When muscle that is mainly responsible for producing a particular movement it is called the prime mover. Muscle that help in movement are called synergists and muscles that produce the opposite movement from the prime movers are called antagonists.
Types of specialized skeletal muscle contractions for maintaining body position are called tonic contractions. In tonic contractions, few muscles fibers shorten at one time, which results in the muscle not moving yet it is maintaining a fixed place in space or providing opposing force to an object in space. Which can assist the body in maintaining correct posture and aligment. A tonic contraction does not move the body parts in space. A tonic contraction holds muscle in position. Meanwhile, muscle tone maintains the body posture relative to a fixed location in space.
