10 interesting facts about human muscles

In the pursuit of the perfect body , we often only see the appearance of muscles. We focus on their size, symmetry, sculpting or hardness and forget about their function and the fact that they form a fascinating , perfectly interconnected whole in the body. Read 10 interesting facts about human muscles you may not have known.

The largest muscle we have is the gluteus maximus

When you think about it, it's pretty logical why it 's the biggest one. It plays an important role in maintaining an upright posture, helps maintain knee extension, controls the hip joint , and influences optimal pelvic alignment. A flabby gluteus maximus is often associated with lumbar spine pain, as the missing gluteal strength is replaced by the strength of the lumbar extensors. Therefore, never skip leg training, it is simply necessary, not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also from a health point of view. Moreover, if you spend all day in the office, it is not surprising that you do not engage this muscle much.

The smallest muscle is the hamstrings.

This muscle is found in the middle ear cavity, is about 2 mm in size and attaches to the stirrup (auditory cortex). When there is an intense sound that could damage our hearing, the stapes muscle reflexively contracts, reducing the mobility of the stapes and allowing less acoustic energy to reach the inner ear, which is protected to some extent from damage.

Around 200 different muscles are involved in the execution of one step

This makes walking an ideal movement for strengthening the body, improving fitness and losing weight. If you want to focus on strengthening your gluteal muscles, walk uphill. We've dedicated a whole separate article to walking and you can read it here.

The tongue is the only muscle in our body that is fixed at only one end

The most commonly injured muscles among athletes are the hamstrings

The cause is usually overuse due to muscle imbalances (e.g. if the gluteal muscles and quadriceps are weak, the hamstrings have to exert more activity when extending the hip). In addition, inadequate warm-up of the muscles before exercise, improper running technique and overtraining have an effect. Hamstrings need to be stretched regularly, if they are shortened they are more prone to injury.

There is a muscle in the skin called the hamstring, its contraction is not controlled by our will, it occurs for example when cold or stressed.

7) If the human body temperature drops below 35.5°C, the muscles react by shivering.

Muscle tremors increaseheat production by 20-30% in the short term. The muscles will help us out of the worst of hypothermia by doing this ; once the body's energy reserves are depleted, the shivering stops and so does the increased heat production.

8) We can express a range of emotions using facial muscles without speech

For example, 17 facial muscles are involved in smiling, while the number of facial muscles involved in frowning is much higher, with about 43 facial muscles reported.

9) The heart contracts approximately 70 times every minute at rest and pumps 5 litres of blood

The heart is a hollow muscular organ that ensures the pumping of blood to all the organs in our body, thus supplying them with oxygen and nutrients. In order to contract and relax, it generatessmall electrical impulses on its own. Interestingly, thanks to this electrical impulse, the heart can beat outside the body. Research has shown that after taking cocaine, it can beat outside the body for as long as 25 minutes; without drugs, it can beat for around a minute.

10) The largest part of the wall of a woman's uterus is the uterine muscle

This muscle has the ability to stretch to accommodate a larger fetus. During childbirth, contractions of these muscles help push the fetus out.

Bottom line

The muscular system is a complex unit that plays a role in almost everything we do. It allows us to move, aids in digestion, breathing, vision, maintaining optimal bodytemperature, childbirth , and much more. The next time you get upset that your muscles aren't growing as fast as you'd like, try to remember how much they do for you and how lucky you are to be healthy and have everything working as it should, because it' s definitely not a given.

Image and information sources: healthline.com, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, movement-as-medicine.com, medicalnewstoday.com, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed, livescience.com, imotions.com, wreducacional.com, medicienterprises.com, ahaonline, uworkfit.com