Skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle (also called voluntary muscle) is the muscle type directly responsible for locomotion. It is anchored to bone by a tough bundle of collagen fibres called a tendon (Figure 9.1), which transmits the pulling force generated by the muscle to the bone lever it moves. Because it is under conscious, deliberate control, it drives voluntary actions such as walking, running, swimming and writing.

A skeletal muscle is built as a hierarchy of bundles wrapped in successive layers of connective tissue:

• The whole muscle is wrapped in an outer sheath, the epimysium.
• Inside, the muscle is divided into bundles of fibres called fascicles, each fascicle wrapped by the perimysium.
• Within a fascicle, each individual muscle fibre is wrapped by the thin endomysium. …