Muscles enable us to be active and exercise. Our strength comes for our muscles and how much they are used. Ways we can make our muscles stronger are by doing aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is where repetitive activity and large muscle movement is helping our muscles use oxygen.

Your bones do so much more than provide support for your body. They facilitate movement, provide protection to internal organs, and are important for blood cell formation and nutrient storage.

Bones have many functions. They support the body structurally, protect our vital organs, and allow us to move. Also, they provide an environment for bone marrow, where the blood cells are created, and they act as a storage area for minerals, particularly calcium.

The major functions of the bones are body support, facilitation of movement, protection of internal organs, storage of minerals and fat, and hematopoiesis.

Bones, muscles and joints hold our body together and support freedom of movement. They are part of the musculoskeletal system (also known as the locomotor system). Fractures, back pain and muscle strain are common condition.

masseter

The main functions of the muscular system are as follows:

• Mobility. The muscular system’s main function is to allow movement.
• Stability. Muscle tendons stretch over joints and contribute to joint stability.
• Posture.
• Circulation.
• Respiration.
• Digestion.
• Urination.
• Childbirth.

There are about 600 muscles in the human body. The three main types of muscle include skeletal, smooth and cardiac.

Tendons: Tendons connect muscles to bones. Made of fibrous tissue and collagen, tendons are tough but not very stretchy.

Keeping your muscles healthy will help you to be able to walk, run, jump, lift things, play sports, and do all the other things you love to do. Exercising, getting enough rest, and eating a balanced diet will help to keep your muscles healthy for life.

Four characteristics define smooth muscle tissue cells: they are involuntarily controlled, not striated, not branched, and singly nucleated. The unconscious regions of the brain control visceral muscle through the autonomic and enteric nervous systems.

involuntary muscle

There are two types of smooth muscles:

• visceral smooth muscle – all cells work together at the same time as one unit.
• multi-unit smooth muscle – cells can act and function independently of the others.

Smooth muscle is typically non-striated, uni-nucleated, and involuntary or reflexive. This muscle type is slow twitch and often rhythmic in contraction.

Unique to the cardiac muscle are a branching morphology and the presence of intercalated discs found between muscle fibers. The intercalated discs stain darkly and are oriented at right angles to the muscle fibers. They are often seen as zigzagging bands cutting across the muscle fibers.

Smooth muscle relaxation occurs either as a result of removal of the contractile stimulus or by the direct action of a substance that stimulates inhibition of the contractile mechanism. Regardless, the process of relaxation requires a decreased intracellular Ca2+ concentration and increased MLC phosphatase activity.

Magnesium relaxes arterial smooth muscle by decreasing intracellular Ca2+ without changing intracellular Mg2+. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville 22908.

The most frequently used drugs in the therapy of visceral smooth muscle spasms are substances that relax smooth muscles (with antimuscarinic activity/atropine-like/or with non-specific activity/papaverine-like direct spasmolytics) and analgesics (opioids or nonsteroid antiinflammatory drugs-NSAID).

Which Muscle Relaxants Are Best for Neck and Back Pain?

• 1) Methocarbamol. Methocarbamol (Robaxin) is a well-studied medication that treats back pain.
• 2) Cyclobenzaprine.
• 3) Carisoprodol.
• 4) Metaxalone.
• 5) Tizanidine.
• 6) Baclofen.
• 7) Oxazepam and diazepam.

Cyclobenzaprine is rated B by the FDA for safety during pregnancy, making it the safest muscle relaxant to use while pregnant. Dantrolene (Dantrium). Dantrolene helps control chronic spasticity related to spinal injuries. It is also used for conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy.

The 7 Best Natural Muscle Relaxers

• Chamomile.
• Cherry juice.
• Blueberry smoothies.
• Cayenne pepper.
• Vitamin D.
• Magnesium.
• Rest.