SKIN
- Largest organ of the body
- Can cover a surface area of nineteen square feet and weigh nearly ten percent of the total body weight
- Averages about 1/20 of an inch in thickness
- Intimately connected with the superficial fascia and deeper tissues
- Texture, thickness and flexibility vary throughout the body
BONE (OSSEOUS TISSUE)
Did you know bones had two different types? Spongy Bone and Compact Bone
- Have a solid feel
- Shape and rigidity of bones and bony landmarks is constant
- Bony landmarks
- “hills, valleys and bumps on the surface of bones”
- We use these to locate where we are on the body. These are where muscles originate or insert.
Muscle
- Skeletal muscle
- Voluntary contractile tissue (you can move these by thinking about it)
- Composed of muscle cells (fibers), layers of connective tissue (fascia) and numerous nerves and blood vessels
- A layer of fascia (epimysium) encases the muscle “belly,” a deeper layer (perimysium) wraps the long muscle fibers into bundles, each microscopic muscle fiber is bound in fascia (endomysium.)
- 3 specific physical characteristics
- 1) Muscle tissue has a striated texture-fibers run in a specific direction
- 2) Direction of muscle fibers
- Can be used to determine the specific muscle you are palpating
- Can also determine the muscle’s action
- Muscles always PULL they NEVER PUSH
- Muscles must pull in the direction of the fibers
- Find the direction of the fibers and you know what action it will perform
- 3) Muscle tissue is unique because it can be in a contracted or relaxed state
- Relaxed – often has a soft, malleable feel
- Contracted – firm, solid feel
TENDON
- Attach muscle to bone
- More accurately they attach muscle to periosteum – the connective tissue that surrounds the bone and is the life center for the bone.
- The tendon is fused with the periosteum; it connects as one continuous structure throughout the body.
- Composed of parallel collagen fibers
- Each end of a muscle has one or more tendons
- Variety of shapes and sizes
- A broad, flat tendon is called an APONEUROSIS
- All tendons have a smooth, tough, almost resilient feel, regardless of shape
Ligament
- Connect bone to bone at a joint
- Task is to strengthen and stabilize the joint
- Ligaments have a more uneven configuration than tendons
- Often have a dense, taut feel
- Remains taut throughout all movements or states of contraction, whereas a tendon will become taut or slack depending on whether it is shortened or lengthened or if the muscle belly is contracted
- Once a ligament is stretched out it can never go back to its normal strength.
FASCIA
- Continuous sheet of fibrous membrane
- Located beneath the skin and around muscles and organs
- Forms a three-dimensional matrix of connective tissue extending throughout the body and from head to toe
- 2 types of fascia:
- 1) Superficial Fascia
- Located immediately deep to the skin and covers the entire body
- Often thought of as a thin sheet, it is actually a special layering filled with adipose tissue, nerves, blood and lymph vessels, and connective tissue
- 2) Deep Fascia
- More complex design
- Surround muscle bellies
- Holds them together and separates them into functional groups
- Fills in the spaces between muscles
- Carries blood vessels and nerves
- Portions of the deep fascia penetrate into the muscle belly and encases each tiny muscle fiber