The Importance of Human Anatomy in the Studying Body Movements - Essay Example

Human Anatomy and Body Movements An Anatomy can be referred to as the study of the way body parts are arranged and structured and their functional relationships. Body muscles are always responsible for all the movements in the body. They dictate both voluntary and involuntary movements in the daily lives of human beings. Human body movements are further facilitated by body joints. Human beings have a rare structure that enables them to stand up and make movements against the gravitational pull. This ability is advocated to the presence of body muscles in their bodies. In the absence of muscles human skeleton would collapse as a result of the gravitational pull. There are 206 bones in the human body which have roughly 700 muscles pulling on them. This paper aims at using daily human activities to discuss human and anatomy and the body in movement. Skeletal muscles can be said to be the only voluntary tissue in the human body. Every movement that a human being initiates voluntarily cannot take place in the absence of the skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles perform the function of contracting in order to make various parts of the body to move closer to the bone they are attached to. Most skeletal bone served two adjustment bones that are connected via joints. Therefore, skeletal muscles can be said to be for the purpose of moving parts of these adjacent body bones close to each other. As a result of this involvement it can be said that skeletal muscles are vital for the movement in human beings. This is because most movements in the bodies of human beings always involve movement of bone joints (Palastanga, Field, and Soames 77). Skeletal muscles are not only essential for voluntary movements, but the involuntary ones too. In most cases, skeletal muscles do not manage to make the human body by themselves. The most common occurrence is that they work together in order to make human bodies move in certain ways. When a muscle initiates a certain movement in the human body, it is always referred to as the prime mover. The prime mover always works together with an opposing muscle that has the main responsibility of availing an opposite effect on the same bones. For instance, the biceps brachii muscle flexes the human hand at the elbow, while the triceps brachii muscle opposes these forces at the same point (Palastanga, Field, and Soames 89). However, there are some muscles that act in support of the body movement initiated by another muscle. Such muscles are referred to as Synergists and have the main purpose of stabilizing the body movement. For this to take place these muscles have to be connected to the same bones. Walking can be described as an activity that involves human being making one stride after another in a continuous pattern. A stride can be defined as the state of being in the process of transition from a foot’s touchdown to the next touchdown of the same foot. In the walking process, there are two types of support phases, namely: single support phase and the double support phase. The single support phase occurs when only one toe is on the ground, while the double support phase occurs when both toes are on the ground. As human beings go through the swing phase, before touchdown, the extension continues to heel rises. After this, there is the flexing of the hip in preparation for the next phase. The knee is continuously flexing which continuous through toe-off. Half way through the swing, there is another extinction of the knee just before it flexes slightly before touchdown takes place. The ankle is usually in a neutral position at touchdown. The ankle usually plantar flexes to the point when the whole leg touches the ground. Some movements of human beings are always caused by a reflex response to certain occurrences in their environments. A good example of such incidents is the quick movement that always takes place when hot objects or fluids get into contact with the human skin. In the human skin there are always neutrons with the expression of proteins that are commonly referred to as TRPV1. TRPV1 causes in increase in electrical potential whenever there is an increase in temperature. As a result of the increase in temperature, there is always a firing of an action potential by a dorsal root ganglion cell. The impulse is then transmitted from the specific point of action to the back of the human spinal cord. In the spinal code the brain is always wired up on the incident. When the pain sensing impulse arrives, its causes and excitement of motor neurons causing an instant movement of the body from the stimuli. Jumping is among the movements in human beings that are referred to as ballistic movements. Ballistic movements are those movements in human beings that are caused by activities of muscles in a single muscle group that is progressive with no muscle activation. Such movements are always brought to an end by movement of an opposite muscle group. It can also be brought to a halt by tissue structures that are passive. A good example of such tissue structures is the ligaments. A good number of ballistic movements of human beings can be categorized into three phases. These phases are: preparation, action, and recovery. Each of these phases has its own biomechanical functions and characteristics. The preparation stage enables the human body to be in an advantageous position to be involved in the action. It manages this by storing elastic energy in the muscles that contract in the process. The action stage is characterized by a synchronized movement of both legs. The recovery process refers to the period that it takes from the air to the point at which an individual land. Human body movement can in some cases be a result of the contraction of somebody muscles. Body muscles usually contract as a result of stimulation by the motor neurons. The point at which these neutrons perform contraction of human body muscles is always known as neuromuscular Junction. They manage to cause such an effect by releasing neurotransmitter chemicals at the neuromuscular Junction. These chemical bonds a specific section of the sarcolemma commonly referred to as the motor end plate. This section has many ion channels that respond to neurotransmitters by opening up to enable positive ions to have their way into the muscle fibers. The muscle fibers then undergo a spreading on the T-tubules, resulting in further opening of more ion channels. This function makes muscles one of the most essential necessities for human movements in their daily lives. There are a number of joints in the human body which pass over more than just a single joint. Such muscles can be able to connect joint and limbs in the human body. When these muscles go through maximum stretching and contracting, they can perform the purpose of elastic ligaments thus restraining movement of specific joints in the human body. However, there is an exemption of incidents when the movement of these muscles is joined with the movement of other muscles. This leads to the conclusion that the short length of the hamstring muscle helps in preventing the hip from completely flexing (Palastanga, Field, and Soames 101). This applies just as long as the knee is not flexed. The end result of this muscle’s involvement is bringing of the two joints closer to each other. This helps in body movements that involve multiple muscles and joints in the body of a human being. There are certain movements that would have been impossible were it not for this characteristic of the human anatomy. Another common form of movement in human beings is rotation. Rotation refers to the process of movement during which a human bone undergoes motion on a central axis without being displaced from the central axis. It is possible for the central axis to lie on a different bone. Sometimes the human bones might go through a longitudinal rotation on their own axis. A good example of such a movement in human beings is the way the humerus rotates on the human shoulder. During such movements the presence of the body muscles is very vital. This is because the body muscles enable the human bones to rotate on an axis without leaving the central axis. Given the strength of the gravitational force, such movement would have been practically impossible without the presence of the skeletal muscles. Rotation is also made easier by the presence of body joints. The importance of movement in the daily lives of human beings can never be ignored. A very big percentage of human existence highly depends on the various movements made by their bodies. The human anatomy is structured in a way that it enhances these movements. Learning the human anatomy is, therefore, vital in knowing and understanding the nature of movements in human beings. With a better understanding of the nature of human movements, individuals will be in a better position to take advantage of the human anatomy of their movement advantage. Work cited Palastanga, Nigel, Derek Field, and Roger Soames. Anatomy and Human Movement: Structure and Function. Edinburgh: Butterworth Heinmann/Elsevier, 2007. Print. Read More