Which is a long narrow muscle, runs from the elbow to wrist? (a) Palmaris muscle (b) Cardiac muscle (c) Smooth

Question 44 of 61

Q. Which is a long narrow muscle, runs from the elbow to wrist?

(a) Palmaris muscle

(b) Cardiac muscle

(d) Skeletal muscle

Tamil Nadu DgeTamil Nadu HSC First Year (DGE) Board 2020MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★

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Concept understanding — Types Of Muscles

Why Do We Need Different Muscles?

Think about what your body asks of its muscles. You need to sprint for a bus — that requires explosive, voluntary power. You need your stomach to churn food — that must happen automatically, without you thinking about it. And your heart must beat every second of every day, never tiring, never pausing.

One type of muscle tissue cannot do all three jobs. So the body has three distinct types, each built for a specific role.

The Three Types at a Glance

Feature	Skeletal Muscle	Smooth Muscle	Cardiac Muscle
Location	Attached to bones	Walls of hollow organs (stomach, intestines, blood vessels)	Wall of the heart (myocardium)
Control	Voluntary (you decide)	Involuntary (automatic)	Involuntary (automatic)
Appearance under microscope	Striated (striped), long cylindrical cells	Non-striated (smooth), spindle-shaped cells	Striated, branched cells with intercalated discs
Nuclei	Multiple (multinucleated)	Single, central	Single or two, central
Speed of contraction	Fast	Slow	Moderate
Fatigue	Fatigues easily	Does not fatigue	Does not fatigue

Skeletal Muscle — The Voluntary Worker

These are the muscles you see when you flex your biceps. Every skeletal muscle is attached to at least two bones via tendons, and when it contracts, it pulls on those bones to produce movement.

Note

The "striped" appearance (striations) comes from the regular arrangement of actin and myosin filaments — the proteins that do the actual contracting.

You control skeletal muscles consciously. When you decide to lift your hand, a signal travels from your brain through motor neurons to the muscle fibres, and they contract. This is why they are called voluntary muscles.

They are fast but tire quickly. Sprinters use skeletal muscle explosively, but after 100 metres they need to rest.

Smooth Muscle — The Silent Worker

Smooth muscle lines the walls of your stomach, intestines, blood vessels, bladder, and airways. You never think about these muscles — they work automatically.

Watch out

Do not confuse "smooth" with "weak". Smooth muscle can maintain a sustained contraction for hours, which skeletal muscle cannot.

Under a microscope, smooth muscle cells look like long, thin spindles with no stripes. They contract slowly and rhythmically, pushing food through your digestive tract or regulating blood pressure by constricting arteries.

Because you do not control them consciously, they are called involuntary muscles.

Cardiac Muscle — The Tireless Heart

Cardiac muscle is found only in the heart. It is a hybrid — it looks striated like skeletal muscle, but it works involuntarily like smooth muscle. …

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The Palmaris longus is a long, narrow, spindle-shaped muscle of the forearm running from the elbow (medial epicondyle of the humerus) to the wrist/palm (palmar aponeurosis) — option (a).

The question describes a specific skeletal muscle by its shape and its attachment points (elbow to wrist), which is a landmark description used for the Palmaris longus:

(a) Palmaris muscle (Palmaris longus): a long, narrow, often tendon-heavy muscle of the anterior forearm that arises near the elbow (medial epicondyle of the humerus) and runs down to insert into the palmar aponeurosis at the wrist. It matches the description exactly.
(b) Cardiac muscle: found only in the heart wall, not a forearm muscle running elbow-to-wrist.
(c) Smooth muscle: found in the walls of internal organs and blood vessels, not a discrete named forearm muscle of this kind. …

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Same / Similar Concept — real previous-year questions on the same or a closely similar concept, not this exact question.

CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 mark
$Q. Fill in the blank: Striated muscles attached to the skeleton are called ______ muscles.$
›Reveal solutionSolution

Striated muscles that are attached to the bones of the skeleton and bring about voluntary movements are called skeletal muscles.

Based on structure, muscles are classified as striated, unstriated (smooth), and cardiac. Skeletal muscles are a type of striated muscle — under the microscope their fibres show alternate light (I-band) and dark (A-band) bands due to the regular arrangement of actin and myosin filaments. They are usually attached to bones (via tendons) and help in body moveme …

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CBSE 2026Set ANNUAL1 markMCQ
$Q. Which type of muscle is involuntary and found in internal organs ?$
(a) Skeletal muscle
(b) Biceps muscles
(c) Smooth muscle
(d) None of these
›Reveal solutionSolution
Smooth muscle is involuntary and lines internal organs, so the answer is (C).

The three types of muscle:

Skeletal (striated) muscle — attached to bones; voluntary (e.g. biceps).

Smooth (unstriated) muscle — spindle-shaped cells in the walls of internal (visceral) organs such as the stomach, intestine, urinary bladder and blood vessels; involuntary.

Cardiac muscle — in the heart; involuntary but striated. …
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CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 mark
$Q. Skeletal muscle is ________ in nature. (voluntary / involuntary / both voluntary and involuntary)$
›Reveal solutionSolution

Skeletal muscle is voluntary in nature — it is controlled consciously by the will of the individual.

The body has three types of muscle tissue: skeletal (striated) muscle, smooth (unstriated) muscle, and cardiac muscle. Skeletal muscle is attached to bones via tendons and is responsible for locomotion and body movements that we consciously initiate — walking, lifting, writing — so it is classified as voluntary. This contrasts with smooth muscle (found in the wal …

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CBSE 2020Set ANNUAL1 markMCQ
$Q. Which is a long narrow muscle, runs from the elbow to wrist?$
(a) Palmaris muscle
(b) Cardiac muscle
(c) Smooth muscle
(d) Skeletal muscle
›Reveal solutionSolution
The Palmaris longus is a long, narrow, spindle-shaped muscle of the forearm running from the elbow (medial epicondyle of the humerus) to the wrist/palm (palmar aponeurosis) — option (a).

The question describes a specific skeletal muscle by its shape and its attachment points (elbow to wrist), which is a landmark description used for the Palmaris longus:

(a) Palmaris muscle (Palmaris longus): a long, narrow, often tendon-heavy muscle of the anterior forearm that arises near the elbow (medial epicondyle of the humerus) and runs down to insert into the palmar aponeurosis at the wrist. It matches the description exactly.

(b) Cardiac muscle: found only in the heart wall, not a forearm muscle running elbow-to-wrist.

(c) Smooth muscle: found in the walls of internal organs and blood vessels, not a discrete named forearm muscle of this kind. …
Start your 14-day free trial to see the full solution →

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Q.Which is a long narrow muscle, runs from the elbow to wrist?

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