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(Video) Kids Health/YouTubeHow Muscles Work

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(Video) Kids Health/YouTubeHow Muscles Work

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(Article) Kids Health--Your Muscles (kids)

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(Article) Kids Health--Your Muscles (kids)

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Did you know you have more than 600 muscles in your body? They do everything from pumping blood throughout your body to helping you lift your heavy backpack. You control some of your muscles, while others - like your heart - do their jobs without you thinking about them at all.

Muscles are all made of the same material, a type of elastic tissue (sort of like the material in a rubber band). Thousands, or even tens of thousands, of small fibers make up each muscle.

You have three different types of muscles in your body: smooth muscle, cardiac (say: KAR-dee-ak) muscle, and skeletal (say: SKEL-uh-tul) muscle.

Smooth Muscles

Smooth muscles - sometimes also called involuntary muscles - are usually in sheets, or layers, with one layer of muscle behind the other. You can't control this type of muscle. Your brain and body tell these muscles what to do without you even thinking about it. You can't use your smooth muscles to make a muscle in your arm or jump into the air.

But smooth muscles are at work all over your body. In your stomach and digestive system, they contract (tighten up) and relax to allow food to make its journey through the body. Your smooth muscles come in handy if you're sick and you need to throw up. The muscles push the food back out of the stomach so it comes up through the esophagus (say: ih-SAH-fuh-gus) and out of the mouth.

Smooth muscles are also found in your bladder. When they're relaxed, they allow you to hold in urine (pee) until you can get to the bathroom. Then they contract so that you can push the urine out. These muscles are also in a woman's uterus, which is where a baby develops. There they help to push the baby out of the mother's body when it's time to be born.

You'll find smooth muscles at work behind the scenes in your eyes, too. These muscles keep the eyes focused.

A Hearty Muscle

The muscle that makes up the heart is called cardiac muscle. It is also known as the myocardium (say: my-uh-KAR-dee-um). The thick muscles of the heart contract to pump blood out and then relax to let blood back in after it has circulated through the body.

Just like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle works all by itself with no help from you. A special group of cells within the heart are known as the pacemaker of the heart because it controls the heartbeat.

Skeletal Muscle

Now, let's talk about the kind of muscle you think of when we say "muscle" - the ones that show how strong you are and let you boot a soccer ball into the goal. These are your skeletal muscles - sometimes called striated (say: STRY-ay-tud) muscle because the light and dark parts of the muscle fibers make them look striped (striated is a fancy word meaning striped).

Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles, which means you can control what they do. Your leg won't bend to kick the soccer ball unless you want it to. These muscles help to make up the musculoskeletal (say: mus-kyuh-low-SKEL-uh-tul) system - the combination of your muscles and your skeleton, or bones.

Together, the skeletal muscles work with your bones to give your body power and strength. In most cases, a skeletal muscle is attached to one end of a bone. It stretches all the way across a joint (the place where two bones meet) and then attaches again to another bone.

Skeletal muscles are held to the bones with the help of tendons (say: TEN-dunz). Tendons are cords made of tough tissue, and they work as special connector pieces between bone and muscle. The tendons are attached so well that when you contract one of your muscles, the tendon and bone move along with it.

Skeletal muscles come in many different sizes and shapes to allow them to do many types of jobs. Some of the biggest and most powerful muscles are your calf and thigh muscles. They give your body the power it needs to lift and push things. Muscles in your neck and the top part of your back aren't as large, but they are capable of some pretty amazing things: Try rotating your head around, back and forth, and up and down to feel the power of the muscles in your neck. These muscles also hold your head high.

Face Muscles

You may not think of it as a muscular body part, but your face has plenty of muscles. You can check them out next time you look in the mirror. Facial muscles don't all attach directly to bone like they do in the rest of the body. Instead, many of them attach under the skin. This allows you to contract your facial muscles just a tiny bit and make dozens of different kinds of faces. Even the smallest movement can turn a smile into a frown. You can raise your eyebrow to look surprised or wiggle your nose.

And while you're looking at your face, don't pass over your tongue - a muscle that's attached only at one end! Your tongue is actually made of a group of muscles that work together to allow you to talk and help you chew food. Stick out your tongue and wiggle it around to see those muscles at work.

Major Muscles

Because there are so many skeletal muscles in your body, we can't list them all here. But here are a few of the major ones:

In each of your shoulders is a deltoid (say: DEL-toyd) muscle. Your deltoid muscles help you move your shoulders every which way - from swinging a softball bat to shrugging your shoulders when you're not sure of an answer.

The pectoralis (say: pek-tuh-RAH-lus) muscles are found on each side of your upper chest. These are usually calledpectorals (say: PEK-tuh-rulz), or pecs, for short. When many boys hit puberty, their pectoral muscles become larger. Many athletes and bodybuilders have large pecs, too.

Below these pectorals, down under your ribcage, are your rectus abdominus (say: REK-tus ab-DAHM-uh-nus)muscles, or abdominals (say: ab-DAHM-uh-nulz). They're often called abs for short.

When you make a muscle in your arm, you tense your biceps (say: BYE-seps) muscle. When you contract your biceps muscle, you can actually see it push up under your skin.

Your quadriceps (say: KWAD-ruh-seps), or quads, are the muscles on the front of your thighs. Many people who run, bike, or play sports develop large, strong quads.

And when it's time for you to take a seat? You'll be sitting on your gluteus maximus (say: GLOOT-ee-us MAK-suh-mus), the muscle that's under the skin and fat in your behind!

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Did you know you have more than 600 muscles in your body? They do everything from pumping blood throughout your body to helping you lift your heavy backpack. You control some of your muscles, while others - like your heart - do their jobs without you thinking about them at all.

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How your muscular system works - Emma Bryce

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(Article) Kids Health--Bones, Muscles and Joints (teens)

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(Article) Kids Health--Bones, Muscles and Joints (teens)

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Scroll down a little ways on this one to find out about Muscles

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What Are Bones and What Do They Do?

Bones provide support for our bodies and help form our shape. Although they're very light, bones are strong enough to support our entire weight.

Bones also protect the organs in our bodies. The skull protects the brain and forms the shape of the face. The spinal cord, a pathway for messages between the brain and the body, is protected by the backbone, or spinal column. The ribs form a cage that shelters the heart and lungs, and the pelvis helps protect the bladder, part of the intestines, and in women, the reproductive organs.

Bones are made up of a framework of a protein called

collagen , with a mineral called calcium phosphate that makes the framework hard and strong. Bones store calcium and release some into the bloodstream when it's needed by other parts of the body. The amounts of certain vitamins and minerals that you eat, especially vitamin D and calcium, directly affect how much calcium is stored in the bones.

Bones are made up of two types of bone tissues:

1. Compact bone is the solid, hard outside part of the bone. It looks like ivory and is extremely strong. Holes and channels run through it, carrying blood vessels and nerves.

2. Cancellous (pronounced: KAN-suh-lus) bone, which looks like a sponge, is inside compact bone. It is made up of a mesh-like network of tiny pieces of bone called trabeculae (pronounced: truh-BEH-kyoo-lee). This is where bone marrow is found.

In this soft bone is where most of the body's blood cells are made. The bone marrow contains stem cells, which produce the body's red blood cells and platelets, and some types of white blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's tissues, and platelets help with blood clotting when someone has a cut or wound. White blood cells help the body fight infection.

Bones are fastened to other bones by long, fibrous straps called ligaments (pronounced: LIG-uh-mentz). Cartilage (pronounced: KAR-tul-ij), a flexible, rubbery substance in our joints, supports bones and protects them where they rub against each other.

How Do Bones Grow?

The bones of kids and young teens are smaller than those of adults and contain "growing zones" called growth plates. These plates consist of multiplying cartilage cells that grow in length, and then change into hard, mineralized bone. These growth plates are easy to spot on an X-ray. Because girls mature at an earlier age than boys, their growth plates change into hard bone at an earlier age.

Bone-building continues throughout life, as a body constantly renews and reshapes the bones' living tissue. Bone contains three types of cells:

1. osteoblasts (pronounced: AHS-tee-uh-blastz), which make new bone and help repair damage

2. osteocytes (pronounced: AHS-tee-o-sites), mature bone cells which help continue new born formation

3. osteoclasts (pronounced: AHS-tee-o-klasts), which break down bone and help to sculpt and shape it

What Are Muscles and What Do They Do?

Muscles pull on the joints, allowing us to move. They also help the body do such things as chewing food and then moving it through the digestive system.

Even when we sit perfectly still, muscles throughout the body are constantly moving. Muscles help the heart beat, the chest rise and fall during breathing, and blood vessels regulate the pressure and flow of blood. When we smile and talk, muscles help us communicate, and when we exercise, they help us stay physically fit and healthy.

Humans have three different kinds of muscle:

1. Skeletal muscle is attached by cord-like tendons to bone, such as in the legs, arms, and face. Skeletal muscles are called striated (pronounced: STRY-ay-ted) because they are made up of fibers that have horizontal stripes when viewed under a microscope. These muscles help hold the skeleton together, give the body shape, and help it with everyday movements (known as voluntary muscles because you can control their movement). They can contract (shorten or tighten) quickly and powerfully, but they tire easily.

2. Smooth, or involuntary, muscle is also made of fibers, but this type of muscle looks smooth, not striated. We can't consciously control our smooth muscles; rather, they're controlled by the nervous system automatically (which is why they're also called involuntary). Examples of smooth muscles are the walls of the stomach and intestines, which help break up food and move it through the digestive system. Smooth muscle is also found in the walls of blood vessels, where it squeezes the stream of blood flowing through the vessels to help maintain blood pressure. Smooth muscles take longer to contract than skeletal muscles do, but they can stay contracted for a long time because they don't tire easily.

3. Cardiac muscle is found in the heart. The walls of the heart's chambers are composed almost entirely of muscle fibers. Cardiac muscle is also an involuntary type of muscle. Its rhythmic, powerful contractions force blood out of the heart as it beats.

How Do Muscles Work?

The movements your muscles make are coordinated and controlled by the brain and nervous system. The involuntary muscles are controlled by structures deep within the brain and the upper part of the spinal cord called the brain stem. The voluntary muscles are regulated by the parts of the brain known as the cerebral motor cortex and the cerebellum (pronounced: ser-uh-BEL-um).

When you decide to move, the motor cortex sends an electrical signal through the spinal cord and peripheral nerves to the muscles, causing them to contract. The motor cortex on the right side of the brain controls the muscles on the left side of the body and vice versa.

The cerebellum coordinates the muscle movements ordered by the motor cortex. Sensors in the muscles and joints send messages back through peripheral nerves to tell the cerebellum and other parts of the brain where and how the arm or leg is moving and what position it's in. This feedback results in smooth, coordinated motion. If you want to lift your arm, your brain sends a message to the muscles in your arm and you move it. When you run, the messages to the brain are more involved, because many muscles have to work in rhythm.

Muscles move body parts by contracting and then relaxing. Muscles can pull bones, but they can't push them back to the original position. So they work in pairs of flexors and extensors. The flexor contracts to bend a limb at a joint. Then, when the movement is completed, the flexor relaxes and the extensor contracts to extend or straighten the limb at the same joint. For example, the biceps muscle, in the front of the upper arm, is a flexor, and the triceps, at the back of the upper arm, is an extensor. When you bend at your elbow, the biceps contracts. Then the biceps relaxes and the triceps contracts to straighten the elbow.

What Are Joints and What Do They Do?

Joints are where two bones meet. They make the skeleton flexible - without them, movement would be impossible.

Joints allow our bodies to move in many ways. Some joints open and close like a hinge (such as knees and elbows), whereas others allow for more complicated movement - a shoulder or hip joint, for example, allows for backward, forward, sideways, and rotating movement.

Joints are classified by their range of movement:

Immovable, or fibrous, joints don't move. The dome of the skull, for example, is made of bony plates, which move slightly during birth and then fuse together as the skull finishes growing. Between the edges of these plates are links, or joints, of fibrous tissue. Fibrous joints also hold the teeth in the jawbone.

Partially movable, or cartilaginous (pronounced: kar-tuh-LAH-juh-nus), joints move a little. They are linked by cartilage, as in the spine. Each of the vertebrae in the spine moves in relation to the one above and below it, and together these movements give the spine its flexibility.

Freely movable, or synovial (pronounced: sih-NO-vee-ul), joints move in many directions. The main joints of the body - such as those found at the hip, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles - are freely movable. They are filled with synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant to help the joints move easily.

Three kinds of freely movable joints play a big part in voluntary movement:

1. Hinge joints allow movement in one direction, as seen in the knees and elbows.

2. Pivot joints allow a rotating or twisting motion, like that of the head moving from side to side.

3. Ball-and-socket joints allow the greatest freedom of movement. The hips and shoulders have this type of joint, in which the round end of a long bone fits into the hollow of another bone.

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