WIMBLEDON 2013!

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Greetings,

Congratulations to Andy Murray for winning the men’s finals and to Lucy Shuker for winning the woman’s wheelchair doubles!! The ball truly was in your court. It was just yesterday when Wimbledon drew to a close with its finals, and once again the nations unity in celebrating good sport was shown in true British style. At Biobunch we strive to deliver to you a better understanding of biology in a fun, and truly epic way… this got us to thinking that we to should celebrate the Wimbledon. We decided to provide you with a crash course in the musculoskeletal system. This system is the driving force behind all those winning shots we saw on our TV yesterday. 

Support and celebration, the British way!!

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Overview of the musculoskeletal system:

This system is made up of muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, joints and their associated tissues that move the body and can maintain its form. 

When talking about the muscles involved in this system we are referring to the skeletal muscles (muscles directly attached to bone via a tendon.)

Never underestimate the structure that is our spine, it holds a significant mechanical purpose by holding the body upright and allowing the twisting and bending of our upper torso.

Remember that this system is comprised of two systems working in unison to carry out a function. The skeletal system offers the framework for the movements however a movement is only carried out when a muscles or a group of muscles from the muscular system is attached to a bone and then contracts.

Unsurprisingly the tissues that connect the muscle to the bone are called connective tissues, and these occur in the body in 3 different forms: 

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1. Tendons: these are tough cords that attach muscles to bones, they are able to transmit tension from muscle to bone thereby producing motion. 
2. Ligaments: this is a tough tissue that connects bones directly to other bone. Thereby stabilizing and supporting the joint by holding the bones in place.  
3. Fascia: now not much of this connective tissue is known and research is still being carried out on this, but it seems that it enables forces to be transmitted safely and effectively without harming other tissues.

So, what about the joints?

A joint is where two or more bones are in contact with each other, the bones that form the joint are held together by ligaments.There are many different forms of joints such as synovial joints found in the vertebrae, ball and socket joints found in our hips, pivot joints found in the radius and ulna and the hinge joint in the elbow. However, we believe that the joint that is the most important to all tennis players is the carpals found in the wrist. 

All in all, the musculoskeletal system is how the body is able to carry out the movements that it does. We hope that you enjoyed our little crash course into this awesome system, keep a look our for more articles and if there is a body system that you would like us to give you a crash course in then leave a comment down below. 

BioBunch.
Over and out.