Anatomy and Physiology 1 Assignment: Joint Mobility and Muscle Names

This assignment delves into the effects of aging on the human musculoskeletal system, specifically focusing on joint mobility and muscle function. It examines how aging leads to changes in connective tissues and cartilage, resulting in decreased synovial fluid, thinner cartilage, and less flexible ligaments. These changes contribute to joint stiffness, reduced range of motion, and an increased risk of age-related conditions such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fractures. The assignment also addresses muscle naming conventions, explaining how muscles are named based on their anatomical position, function (e.g., flexor, extensor), appearance (shape, fiber direction), and origin/insertion points. Examples such as the frontalis, gluteal, quadriceps, and biceps brachii are provided to illustrate these naming principles. References are included to support the information presented.

Running head: Anatomy and Physiology 1 1
Anatomy and Physiology 1
Name
Institution of Affiliation

Anatomy and Physiology 1 2
Question 1
Regardless of the health of a person, aging has a direct effect on their joints mobility as a
result of changes occurring in the connective tissues and cartilage. As individual ages, the
amount of synovial fluid (lubricating fluid found within joints) decreases and the cartilage
becomes thinner making joint mobility stiffer and less flexible. Ligaments also become shorter
and tend to lose flexibility, become more brittle contributing also to the stiffness, (Keller &
Engelhardt, 2019). Collectively these changes reduce the joint range of movement as one age.
These changes are due to the inability of aged cells of a joint to maintain homeostasis and are at
high risk of damage. The gross changes include; a decrease of water content, increased stiffness,
and reduction of strength at joints.
As the musculoskeletal system within the joints wears out because of the aging process it
is associated with several clinical problems. They include; Osteoarthritis a chronic disorder due
to damaged cartilage and tissues within a joint, it is characterized by stiff, painful and immobile
joints (loss of function), (REF). Osteoporosis is also a common condition with the aged, often
with women. It is characterized by the ability of bone to break easily at joints, pain and reduced
movement, (Hubertsson et al., 2012).
Another age-related problem is rheumatoid arthritis. Elderly individuals are a risk to
infections due to impaired immunity. They are susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis (inflammation
of joints lining by own immune system) that’s is characterized by painful swelling at joints and
deformity. Fractures are also common with aged individuals due to internal factors within joints
such as the joint becoming more brittle, (EM et al., 2017).

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Question 2
Muscle names are based on several features such as function, shape, and location.
Anatomists name and identify muscles based on their anatomical position (their location
reference to a specific bone). For instance, the frontalis muscle is situated on top of the frontal
bone of the skull. Lateralis infers a muscle that is located at the exterior end away from the
midline and medialis infers the type of a muscle located interior side towards the midline. The
gluteal muscle of the buttocks, (Musil et al., 2014).
Other names can indicate the function of a muscle such as type of movement produced;
Flexor infers a muscle that reduces the angle at the joint while else Extensor causes an increment
of the angle at the joint. Abductor refers to a muscle responsible for moving a bone away from
the midline and Adductor refers to a muscle which functions to move a bone towards the
midline, (Handsfield et al., 2016)
Also, muscles can be named based on their appearance (that is muscle shape, length and
direction fibers, and fascicles; for instance, quadriceps refers to a bundle of four muscles at the
anterior part of the thigh. Additionally, a name like a biceps brachii. The bi prefix infers muscle
having two origins and tri infer three origins. Deltoid identifies muscle with a triangular
appearance found at the muscle. Gluteus maximus refers to the largest muscles in the length of
the buttocks while gluteus medialis is medium in lengthwise. Other names include rectus
meaning straight and transverse meaning horizontal muscles of the abdomen, (Mascarello et al.,
2016).

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References
EM, Y., Gaafary, M. E., Sayed, S., Palmer, D., & Ahmed, I. (2017). Implementing shared
decision making in clinical practice: Outcomes of a new shared decision making aid
for chronic inflammatory arthritis patients. Journal of Patient Care, 02(02).
Handsfield, G. G., Slane, L. C., & Screen, H. R. (2016). Nomenclature of the tendon
hierarchy: An overview of inconsistent terminology and a proposed size-based
naming scheme with terminology for multi-muscle tendons. Journal of
Biomechanics, 49(13), 3122-3124.
Hubertsson, J., Petersson, I. F., Thorstensson, C. A., & Englund, M. (2012). Risk of sick
leave and disability pension in working-age women and men with knee osteoarthritis.
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 72(3), 401-405.
Keller, K., & Engelhardt, M. (2019). Strength and muscle mass loss with aging process. Age
and strength loss. Muscle Ligaments and Tendons Journal, 03(04), 346.
Mascarello, F., Toniolo, L., Cancellara, P., Reggiani, C., & Maccatrozzo, L. (2016).
Expression and identification of 10 sarcomeric MyHC isoforms in human skeletal
muscles of different embryological origin. Diversity and similarity in mammalian
species. Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 207, 9-20.
Musil, V., Suchomel, Z., Malinova, P., Stingl, J., Vlcek, M., & Vacha, M. (2014). The
history of Latin terminology of human skeletal muscles (from Vesalius to the
present). Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 37(1), 33-41.