Published on March 18, 2015
What do you really know about your muscles?
Q.1 The 3 major types of muscles are:
a) Smooth, sports and skeletal muscles
b) Smooth, cardiac and skeletal muscle
c) Smooth, running and facial muscles
d) Smooth, flexible and strength muscle
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The 3 major types of muscles are: b) Smooth muscle is smooth in appearance when viewed under a microscope and is under the control of the autonomic nervous system so is not under our conscious control. The muscles that you can choose to move are skeletal or striated muscle—called this because of a striated pattern when viewed at a microscopic level. The third type, cardiac, is a specialised form of smooth muscle found in the cardiovascular system; it differs from other smooth muscle in that it has a special type of nerve control which allows rhythmic contractions.
Q.2 What muscle pumps blood around your body?
a) Skeletal muscle
b) Smooth muscle
c) Valentine muscle
d) Cardiac muscle
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What muscle pumps blood around your body? d) The heart is of course what pumps the blood around the body and by measuring the rate of contraction using a heart rate variability monitor we can understand how well the nervous system can adapt to changes in the environment. The more dynamic and able to change the heart is, the healthier you are.
Q.3 Which muscle moves your shoulders?
a) Smooth muscle
b) Deltoid muscle
c) Quadriceps
d) Tendons
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Which muscle moves your shoulders? b) The deltoid muscle group is made up of the anterior, mid and posterior parts. It lifts the humerus outward from the body but the first 10o of motion is undertaken by a little known muscle called the supraspinatus which sits along the top shoulder blade.
Q.4 Which type of muscle is found in your digestive system?
a) Rectus abdominus
b) Cardiac muscle
c) Smooth muscle
d) Stomach muscles
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Which type of muscle is found in your digestive system? c) As you are unable to consciously control the movement of the digestive system the answer is the smooth muscle. What you may not know is that the bowel function has a memory, which is why when we are healthy we should enjoy our daily motions at the same time. The digestive system likes routine and so regular meals and a variety of food are the best for good bowel health.
Q.5 What connects bones and muscles together?
a) Tendons
b) Ligaments
c) Glue
d) Cartilage
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What connects bones and muscles together? a) Tendons connect muscle to bone but are almost identical to ligaments in structure (ligaments connect bone to bone). In a similar way to muscle ligaments tendons can be stretched but need more than 10 minutes of tension before they begin to deform. Cartilage, the springy spacers within joints, allow a cushioning effect but if they calcify they become bone-like.
Q.6 Skeletal muscles work with bones to give your body:
a) Strength
b) The ability to move
c) Strength and the ability to move
d) None of the above
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Skeletal muscles work with bones to give your body: c) Without the stabilising aspects of muscle the skeletal system would be a floppy mess. The muscles fire at the exact moment to create a rigid frame for movement. If the nervous system is under stress it can make mistakes and injury can occur undertaking simple daily tasks. “My back just went” I often hear. This means that the muscles provided strength and power but not the co-ordinated stability needed for good movement.
Q.7 Some of your biggest and most powerful muscles are:
a) In your calves & thighs
b) In your back near your spine
c) In your arms
d) In your fingers
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Some of your biggest and most powerful muscles are: b) The spine has some of the biggest and strongest muscles in the body. The most powerful muscle in the human body pound for pound is the uterus, followed by the masseter in the jaw and then the powerful postural muscles of the spine. Compared to the first two though the spinal muscles are huge, delivering amazing power with little effort. Keeping the spine in good condition is vital for the healing of these powerful muscles.
Q 8. Which muscles are found on the front of your thighs?
a) Quadriceps
b) Biceps
c) Pectorals
d) Deltoids
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Which muscles are found on the front of your thighs? a) The quadriceps has four parts and join+s the knee cap to allow powerful extension of the knee. One part, the rectus femoris, also crosses the hip joint and flexes the hip making it a vital muscle for good motion.
Q.9 Which muscles are found in your belly and sometimes called “abs”?
a) Pectorals
b) Quadriceps
c) Deltoids
d) Rectus abdominus
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Which muscles are found in your belly and sometimes called “abs”? d) The Rectus abdominus is the famous “six-pack” in body builders.
Q.10 When you make a muscle in your arm, you are flexing your:
a) Pectorals
b) Biceps
c) Deltoids
d) Rectus abdominus
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When you make a muscle in your arm, you are flexing your: b) The famous biceps is a very important muscle and crosses both the elbow joint and the shoulder. It has two heads, hence its name, which pass along alternate routes to join into the shoulder blade. This allows strength and stability in the highly mobile shoulder joint. The biceps needs to be able to work whatever position the shoulder is in. Injuries to the shoulder can be complex and chiropractors are well placed to help.
Mar 19, 2015 at 12:08 AM
Hi Jonathan, Just to let you know I have returned safely from Barbados, with a few bruises, as they hit the ball hard. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity and stayed fit to play in the test matches which we drew 1-1. Meeting Sir Gary Sobers, Sir Wes Hall and playing against Collis King were no doubt highlights but taking 10wickets in 35overs over the tour and a diving catch that helped win the 1st test probably surpass even that. As a result I've now been selected to play against Australia in June, in the over 60s version of the Ashes, lol! I've been more regimented in lifestyle, earlier nights and earlier mornings seem to help, it seems I was in a pretty stressed state when I first saw you. Additionally the mad neighbours moved and although the others aren't great it's been an improvement!