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11.1 Skeletal Muscle Tissue

As we learned in Chapter 5, muscle tissue plays a crucial role in supporting our daily life, and it not only helps us move and complete daily tasks, but it also supports life-sustaining functions such as breathing, circulation, and digestion. While skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle all work together to support the bodily functions, they differ in structure. Let’s explore these differences below.

Microscopic image of skeletal muscle tissue showing long, cylindrical fibres with visible striations.
Image by OpenStax College, CC BY 3.0, Modifications: Cropped

Skeletal Muscle:

  • Striations (banded or striped appearance due to arrangement of contractile proteins) are clearly visible
  • Voluntary control through fast contractions
  • Primarily used for the movement of the trunk and limbs
  • Example: The bicep brachii muscle found in the upper arm
Microscopic image of smooth muscle tissue showing elongated cells with centrally located nuclei and no visible striations.
Image by OpenStax College, CC BY 3.0, Modifications: Cropped

Smooth Muscle:

  • No striations
  • Involuntary control through slow and sustained contractions
  • Used for the function of internal organs
  • Example: The stomach
Microscopic image of cardiac muscle tissue showing branching, striated fibres with centrally located nuclei and intercalated discs between cells.
Image by OpenStax College, CC BY 3.0, Modifications: Cropped

Cardiac Muscle:

  • Striations present but less distinct
  • Involuntary control through rhythmic contractions
  • Used to pump blood throughout the body
  • Example: The heart

Despite their differences, a property common to all three types of muscle is contractility, or the ability of a muscle to contract and generate force. While muscle tissue can shorten with contractions, it also displays extensibility or the ability to stretch and extend beyond the resting length and elasticity, which allows the muscle to recoil back to its resting length. Without such properties, our ability to function normally would be unattainable.

Given the focus of this resource on physical activity and human movement, the primary focus of the following section will be on skeletal muscle, as it plays the central role in producing human movement.

“10.1 Overview of Muscle Tissues” from Anatomy & Physiology by Lindsay M. Biga, Staci Bronson, Sierra Dawson, Amy Harwell, Robin Hopkins, Joel Kaufmann, Mike LeMaster, Philip Matern, Katie Morrison-Graham, Kristen Oja, Devon Quick, Jon Runyeon, OSU OERU & OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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The Foundations of Human Movement and Physical Fitness Copyright © 2025 by A.J. Stephen; Sarah Fraser; and Connor Dalton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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