The Muscular System

The Structure & Function:
What is the function of the muscular system? The function of the muscular system is to move the body. The muscular system is attached to the skeletal system and moves the bones (See: The Skeletal System). In fact, the muscular system is made up of muscle tissue, blood vessels, tendons, & nerves.
The Muscular System

What are the names & functions of the major organs in the muscular system?
The names & functions of the major organs in the muscular system are... 
  • Visceral: The visceral muscle is a muscle made up of muscle tissue. The function of the visceral is to make organs contract to move substances throughout the organ. It is an involuntary muscle - controlled by an unconscious part of the brain. The visceral is found inside of the organs such as the stomach, intestines, & blood vessels. It is said that the visceral is the weakest of all muscle tissues.
  • Cardiac: The cardiac muscle is found only in the heart and regulates the pace of the heart. It is said that the cardiac muscles stimulate other cardiac muscles.
  • Skeletal: The skeletal muscle is the only voluntary muscle in the muscular system - it is controlled consciously and every physical form of movement that we make requires the skeletal muscle. Most of the skeletal muscles are attached the bones making them move (See: The Skeletal System)
The structure & function of the cardiac muscle: The structure of the cardiac muscle is to cover some part of the wall of the heart. The function of the myocardium (another way of saying cardiac muscle) is to help the heart when sending blood from the body. It is an involuntary muscle, meaning it is controlled by an unconscious part of our cerebral cortex (another way of saying brain).  


Interactions With Other Systems:
Interactions with other systems: The interactions with the other systems that the muscular system has are the Skeletal System, the Nervous System, the Digestive System, & the Circulatory System:

  • The Skeletal System (Interaction): The skeletal muscle connects to the bones thus moving them. In fact, the skeletal muscle is about 40% of the human body's weight.
  • The Nervous System (Interaction): The receptors in the muscles are given signals from the nervous system (sent from the cerebral cortex) which tells the muscles how much to contract. The nervous system also controls the speed at how fast food travels through the digestive system.                          It would also make sense that the nervous system has a close relationship with the muscular system, given that we have to think before we move ("think before you act"?). Although thinking is not quite involved with all the muscles in the muscular system, the neurons in the nervous system are connected to the cells in the muscular system (a neuron is a certain type of cell that is also referred to as a nerve cell).
  • The Digestive System (Interaction): As I mentioned before, a visceral muscle was found in the organs of what are part of another body system - the digestive system. The visceral muscle helped move food throughout the intestines, which is why the digestive system and the muscular system have another close relationship.
  • The Circulatory System (Interaction): The cardiac muscle, which is a type of muscle that is part of the wall of the heart, which is called myocardium helps the circulatory system with its function of pumping hormones (produced by the Endocrine System), blood and lymph throughout the body (including the heart. See: The Circulatory System) and its frequent transportation around the body. It does this by contracting and through the "sliding filament" method, sending blood from the heart.
The Muscular System Analogy:

Explain the analogy: This analogy is comparing the skeletal muscle to a door hinge - the skeletal muscle connects one bone to another and the skeletal muscle also moves the bones together, in the same way a door hinge connects a door to the door frame & wall while allowing the door to move.

REDESIGN: How Can I Make This System Better?
How can you make this system better?: I would make this system better by making our muscles stronger so they are not so prone to tearing. Another thing I would do to improve the muscular system is make it disease-resistant. 

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