Q.Tendon helps to join

Tendons and Ligaments

When you bend your arm, several different tissues must work together: the muscle pulls, but something has to connect that muscle to the bone it moves, and something else has to hold the bones of the joint together. Those two "somethings" are tendons and ligaments — and although they sound similar and are easily confused, they connect different things and do different jobs.

The core distinction

The simplest way to keep them straight is by what they join:

• Tendon: joins muscle to bone. When a muscle contracts, the tendon transmits that pull to the bone, producing movement.
• Ligament: joins bone to bone. Ligaments hold the bones together at a joint, stabilising it and limiting excessive or wrong movements.

A handy memory aid: ligament links bone to bone (both at the joint); tendon ties muscle to bone.

What they are made of

Both are types of specialised (dense) connective tissue, rich in strong protein fibres that give them great tensile strength. Their fibre content is what lets them withstand the pulling forces of the musculoskeletal system without tearing.

• Tendons are largely made of densely packed collagen fibres — tough and relatively inelastic, so the muscle's force is transmitted efficiently without being wasted on stretch. …