Muscle Naming - Video Tutorials & Practice Problems
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Muscle Naming
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As you start to learn the muscle of the body, you may start to get the feeling. This is a lot of long complicated Latin names that you need to remember and it is. But understanding that those Latin names have meanings can make the whole process a lot easier. So we're just gonna start out by saying that there are many factors that influence muscle naming and recognizing them can help you both identify and remember muscles. So we're gonna go through these factors. Now, first off, muscles can be named after the body region in which they're founded. So for example, you have two muscles called the biceps in your body. Now, you're probably familiar with the biceps brachii brachii refers to the brachial region in your arm. But you also have a muscle called the biceps. Femoris. Femoris, refers to the femoral region, your thigh, that's a muscle, your hamstring. Another thing muscles can be named after is their shape. So for example, in your back, you have the trapezius, that's roughly the shape of a trapezoid in your shoulder. You have the deltoid that's named after the Greek letter delta, which is the shape of a triangle. Next, muscles could be named after their size. A lot of times we'll have muscles with the same name, but then one will be the Maximus and one, the minimus. Well, if you remember that one name, then you remember there's a big one and a small one or one might be the longest and the other one's the brevis longest means it's long. Brevis is Latin for short. It's the same root as the word brief. Now, muscles could also be named after the muscle action. So for example, the abductor longus, well, abduction means to bring a body part in line with the body closer to the midline of the body. So now you know what the abductor longus does that one is attached to your thigh, it abducts the leg. Next, we have the direction of the muscle fibers. Now, a good example of this is you have a whole bunch of different abdominal muscles. You have the obliques, those go at an angle, you have the transverse abdominus, those run crosswise, you have the rectus. Abdominus, rectus is a word that means straight, those run straight up and down. Next, you have the location of attachments. Now, when it's location of attachments, it will just tell you the origin and the insertion in that order. A good example of this is the sternocleidomastoid, this muscle right here. Sterno cleo, it has origins on the sternum and cleo refers to the clavicle and then its insertion is the mastoid, the mastoid process right here. Just knowing that I know everything I need to know about the muscle. And finally, we have that number of heads and heads is another term for origins. So sometimes muscles split at the ends and they, they have an origin, they have more than one origin. So for example, I bet you know how many heads the biceps brachii has and how many heads, the triceps, brachii has two and three. All right. So just for some more examples of these here, we have the gluteus Maximus. Well, I recognize Gluteus as a body region. That's your rear end and Maximus, that's big. Well, so that tells me that's the big old muscle of your butt. And there it is, we have the rhomboid major. Well, rhomboid refers to a rhombus, which is a diamond shape. And if I look here, look at this muscle is about a diamond shape and major means that it's big or at least that bigger than another rhomboid muscle. So I already know there's gonna be a rhomboid minor and sure enough there is, it's a smaller muscle just above it. You have the extensor digitorum muscle. Well, extensor, that's an action. It's gonna straighten something. What is it going to straighten? Well, it's gonna give us a body region, the digits, it's gonna extend the fingers. And so if I think about what's gonna make my fingers extend, that's gonna be a muscle in the back of my forearm and looky lo there it is. All right. This information up here is less likely to be tested on directly. You are very likely to be tested on the names for those muscles though. So again, understanding where the muscles are, what they do by looking at their names can be incredibly helpful. It could just help you remember it or could even help you figure out a muscle if you don't remember it when you're sitting there on a test. All right with that. I think it's time for you to go learn your muscles.
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example
Muscle Naming Example 1
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4m
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To practice our muscle naming. We're gonna fill out this table here and it says that the table below lists several muscles, put a check in the box if the muscle's name involves a particular naming convention. And so our naming conventions are a, if it's named after the body region, the shape, the size, the muscle action, the direction of fibers, the location of attachments or the number of heads. So let's take a look at our muscles. First up, we have the biceps, porous muscle. Well, let's take a look at that word biceps. What do you see? I see by, by means two. So I'm gonna put a check in the number of heads. Biceps. Morris has two heads or two origins, right? And then we have femoris. What does that tell you? Well, it tells me a body region, the Morris, the femoral region that's in your thigh. That's a muscle with two origins in your thigh, part of your hamstring. Next, we have the brachial radialis. All right. What do you think that's named after? Well, the first thing you might be tempted to say, you see Racio there. That's a body region, right? Your upper arm. So let me go ahead and put a small check there. Not a big one because the other thing I see here though is radialis. And so it's listing two body regions. It has the brachial, that's the upper arm and the radialis is one of the bones in your forearm. So that's telling me it's the origin and the insertion of this muscle, the origins in the brachial region on the humerus and the insertion is on the radius. So I'm gonna put a check in the location of attachments. And when you have a muscle that's named directly after the n the location of the attachments, it's always gonna list the origin before the insertion. All right. Next up, we have the transverse abdominous. All right. Well, what do you see in that name? Transverse, transverse is a directional term that means it's running crossways, that's gonna be the direction of the fibers. And then abdominus, well, I kinda already pointed to the muscle on myself here, abdominal muscles, your abdominal area. That's a body region. All right, we have the cer serratus anterior muscle. So what do you see in the word serratus? Well, that one's a little tricky. What it's actually telling you is that is the word serrated, that comes from the word serrated. The serratus interior muscle goes from the scapula around your back and its insertions are along the ribs. And so because it inserts along many ribs, the edge of the muscle is kind of jagged and it looks serrated. When you actually contract that muscle, it pulls your shoulders forward. So that serrated serratus, that's actually telling me about the shape of that muscle. Now, what else do you see? I see anterior, well, anterior, that's a body region or a location that's towards the front. So the insertion is towards the front, pulls around to the front. So I'm gonna put a check on body region. And then finally, we have the flexor hallucis brevis muscle. All right, we got three words here. All right. So what do you see in flexor? Well, to flex something, that's a muscle action that's bending at a joint. So I'm gonna put a check in muscle action. What about hollis? Well, if you remember your body regions, hallucis, your halli that's your big toe. So, what's it gonna flex? It's gonna flex your big toe. So it's the body region. And then finally, we have revis, well, Brevis, that might be another one that you don't immediately recognize, but you should learn it because it comes up a lot. Brevis in Latin means short and it's the root that brief comes from. So that's talking about the size of the muscle. Now, again, you're unlikely to have to break down muscle names the way that we just did. But if you remember that information about the muscles as you learn them, if you remember what the names mean, it really helps you remember what the muscles are, what they do, how big they are, et cetera. All right. Like, always more practice problems of all. Give them a try.
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Problem
Problem
Based on the name, how does the fibularis brevis compare to the fibularis longus?
A
The fibularis brevis muscle is relatively short while the fibularis longus is relatively long.
B
The fibularis brevis muscle is flat while the fibularis longus is triangular.
C
The fibularis brevis muscle is relatively slender while the fibularis longus is relatively wide.
D
The fibularis brevis muscle has a pennate fascicle arrangement while the fibularis longus has a parallel fascicle arrangement.
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Problem
Problem
Based on the name, how would you expect the orbicularis oris muscle to be shaped?
A
Triangular.
B
Comb-like.
C
Circular.
D
Serrated.
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Problem
Problem
Which of the following muscle names does NOT provide information about the muscle's actions?