Introduction Factors that affect the ability of the body to respond:
Human movement occurs as a result of an intimate relationship
between anatomy and physiology.
Purposeful movement is a fundamental characteristic of human
behavior
“system” it is an assemblage or combination of parts that form a
functioning unit.
human movement as a system made up of several
contributing elements : nervous, muscular, skeletal, and
sensory systems allows us to study both structure and function
simultaneously
The body’s movement system changes throughout the life
cycle in response to: growth, maturation, aging, disease, or
environmental demands.
Movement occurs through biomechanical responses to this
neurological input.
biomechanical responses include: skeletal muscle contractions
that move the body’s system of levers and pulleys which are
formed by bones, tendons, and ligaments.
nervous system provides: fine control of muscle contractions
over a wide range of lengths, tensions, speeds, and loads.
sensory nervous system provides accurate and timely
information about the status of each body part and their
environmental surroundings through its afferent receptors
efferent motor nerve impulses send a response to selected
muscles or muscle groups to produce desired movements.
Once the nervous system has processed the
afferent information, its efferent receptor will
response to produce movement
Desired movement was done through
collaborative work of the motor and sensory
system
ability of muscles to develop graded amounts of active tension
ability of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems to
provide the ingredients that fuel the contractile process
the ability of the nervous system to regulate the rate and amount
of contraction needed to accurately move certain body parts while
stabilizing and inhibiting other parts.
Physiology of Excitable Tissue: Nerve and
Muscle
- all living cells are surrounded by membranes formed by a
continuous phospholipid bilayer
nervous and muscular tissue mem- branes are excitable and is
able to transmit electrochemical infromation to produce
movement
meaning: their membranes are irritable and thereby sensitive to
electrochemical change.
Excitability, can be communicated between the tissues and from
higher region or system to another
Differences in electrical potential exist across the membranes of
all living cells
Ions - the positively and negatively charged particles present in
the intracellular and extracellular fluids
- ions are predominantly negative inside the cell and positive
outside the cell.
Potential Difference - imbalance of ions from one side of a cell
membrane to the other
Two factors are responsible for the ability of a cell to
maintain a potential difference across its membrane:
1. The cell membrane has selective permeability.
- it is relatively impermeable to certain ions and more permeable
to others
- permeability of the membrane to an ion can be increased
transiently by certain chemical substances released by nerve
endings
2. The cell can actively move ions across the membrane to
maintain a required resting potential.
resting potential no action is occurring
Nerve cells, muscle cells, and sensory receptors maintain a
negative resting potential in the range of –60 to –90 mV
between the inside and outside of their membranes.
- average = –85mV
irritability ability to react to a stimulus
depolarization Once nervous and muscular tissues react to a
stimulus, the cell’s membrane changes its resting potential and it
becomes more positive
Action potentials are the language, or the electrochemical
messages, that are then propagated through the movement
system.
Repolarization, returns the membrane to its resting potential
nerve impulse action potential transmitted over a nerve fiber
muscle impulse is the action potential conducted over a muscle
fiber
Once they are depolarized, they become excitable and
transmit the electrochemical impulse along their
membranes, so that the depolarization propagates, or
moves, along the cell’s membrane.
When this depolarization continues to be transmitted
through impulse action potential occurs
A sufficient stimulus (electrical, mechanical, chemical, or
thermal) applied to a nerve or muscle cell causes the
cell membrane to be more permeable to certain ions
increased permeability results in a rapid exchange of
previously separated positive and negative ions as the
stimulus moves across the membrane
This rapid ion movement causes the membrane to
become more positively charged, or depolarized
- excitation that is produced by a stimulus produces a wave of
electrochemical activity that moves rapidly along nerve and
muscle fibers and is associated with local changes in the electrical
potential of each of the fibers
- Neurons send “control signals” to other neurons or to muscles
by releasing small amounts of chemicals termed
neurotransmitters
- The chemical synapse between two neurons may be either
excitatory or inhibitory
Excitatory synapses cause depolarization of the postsynaptic
mem- brane to produce an action potential.
inhibitory synapses result in a hyperpolarization (more negative
potential) of the postsynaptic membrane.
- inhibition increases the voltage requirement so it is more difficult
to create an action potential.
Nervous System Anatomy Overview
z Nervous system classification
neuron the most basic structure of the nervous system
- Neurons have many different shapes and sizes, depending on
their location and functions in the nervous system
A typical neuron consists of:
Dendrites: several short radiating processes
- are the thin, fingerlike sensory nerves that appear on one end
of the neuron.
- They pick up signals from the axon terminals of other nearby
nerves.
Cell body: cell body containing the nucleus
- is responsible for keeping the neuron alive and functioning. The
nucleus contains the genetic information for the neuron.
Axon: one long process, terminates in twig-like branches
- is the single nerve fiber that carries an electrical signal to the
next neuron.
- May also have branches or collaterals projecting along its
course.
- The axon, together with its covering, or sheath, forms the nerve
fiber.
- For faster conduction speeds, some axons are covered with a
fatty coating, called a myelin sheath. The sheath allows nerve
signals to jump along the outside of the nerve, hopping from open
space to open space in the sheath (these spaces are called Nodes
of Ranvier), much like a stone skipping across water.
For easier understanding of nervous system it was divided into
three:
• Anatomically
• Physiologically
• Functionally
X Physiologically, the nervous system is divided into the
somatic and visceral nervous systems.
somatic system includes all of the receptors and nerves that
innervate muscles and skin.
visceral system is the autonomic system that is further
subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
X Anatomically, the nervous system is divided into the central
nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
central nervous system is composed of the brain and spinal
cord and includes all of the nerves that communicate with each
other within those areas.
- These neural structures are enclosed within the bony vertebral
column and skull.
peripheral nervous system includes the cranial nerves, the
afferent sensory nerves to the spinal cord and the efferent motor
neurons from the spinal cord to the muscles.
tract describes a group of axons with common origin, function,
and termination.
- name of a tract often indi- cates the general origin and
destination of the axons which make up the tract
Axons of upper motor neurons are located in the cerebral
cortex and descend in the spinal cord.
- These upper motor neurons form axonal bundles as
corticospinal pathways or tracts.
Corticospinal tracts are in the lateral and medial portions of the
spinal cord
- The axons of the corticospinal tracts make synaptic contact,
usually via interneurons, with lower motor neurons
Lower motor neurons are in the ventral horn gray matter of the
spinal cord.
- Each lower motor neuron innervates a set of muscle fibers
within a muscle
X Functionally, the nervous system is divided similarly to the
anatomically based system
afferent system includes all nerves associated with the
transmission of sensory information into the CNS.
Afferent nerves includes: peripheral axons, often called primary
or first order afferents, originating from the receptors and
entering into the dorsal horn of the spinal cord
efferent system includes nerves that regulate movement and
motor behavior.
- initial efferent nerves within the central nervous system are
upper motor neurons since their connections, cell bodies, and
axons lie within the brain and spinal cord.
Interneurons are those neurons within the ventral horn and
intermediate areas of the spinal cord.
- Interneurons transmit efferently to alpha and gamma lower
motor neurons
- function as a neural bridge between the upper and lower motor
neurons.
Alpha and gamma lower motor neurons innervate extrafusal
muscle fibers and intrafusal muscle fibers
Nerve Fibers
- The motor and sensory nerves are wrapped with a myelin
sheath to provide for this necessary transmission speed.
Myelin is a white lipid substance that insulates the neural axon
- Along this myelin sheath are regular indentations the length of
the axon; these are nodes of Ranvier,
Nodes of Ranvier, named after a French histologist, Louis
Ranvier (1835–1922)
z Nerve Fibers in the Peripheral Nervous System
X Sensory nerves are functionally referred to as afferent
nerve fibers
- Their cell bodies lie in special ganglia
- carry impulses arising from var- ious receptors in the skin,
muscles, and special sense organs to the central nervous system,
where the impulses are interpreted.
X Motor nerve fibers are functionally referred to as efferent
nerve fibers.
- conduct impulses from the spinal cord to skeletal muscle fibers
for voluntary muscle activity control
- cell bodies are located in the gray matter of the spinal cord and
brainstem
- Lower motor neuron is the term used to describe a motor
(efferent) nerve whose cell body and axon originate in the ventral
horn of the spinal cord and synapse directly onto skeletal muscle.
- often referred to as the final common path between the
nervous system and the muscular system.
X Autonomic neurons are concerned with the involuntary
control of glandular activities and smooth muscles, including
smooth muscles surrounding arterioles and venules within muscles
Classification of Motor and Sensory Nerve Fibers on the Basis of
Axonal Diameter in the Peripheral Nervous System
type A is the largest axon
- Larger axons conduct impulses at a faster velocity
type C smallest fibers
type B intermediate diameter
Type A Myelinated
Type B Myelinated
Type C Unmyelinated
Classification of Sensory Fibers on the Basis of Fiber
Origin within the Peripheral Nervous System
The first group (group I) is subdivided into subgroups Ia and Ib.
- Group Ia fibers carry impulses from the primary sensory
receptor in muscles, the muscle spindle.
- Group Ib fibers carry impulses from sensory receptors located in
tendons and are referred to as Golgi tendon organs (GTO)
Classification of Motor Fibers on the Basis of Fiber
Destination within the Peripheral Nervous System
Efferent nerve fibers are classified into two groups based on
which muscle fiber that they innervate
- Alpha (︎) motor neurons innervate extrafusal skeletal muscle.
- Gamma (︎︎) motor neurons innervate the contractile element
called the intrafusal (within the spindle) muscle fibers.

- intrafusal muscle fibers lie within the muscle spindle while

extrafusal muscle fibers are normal skeletal muscle fibers.

z Nerve Fibers in the Central Nervous System

- Within the central nervous system, nerves are classified typically

by their physical characteristics such as size or shape.

Upper motor neurons lie within the central nervous system and
carry impulses from the brain to motor neu- rons in the spinal
cord

lower motor neurons of the peripheral nervous system transmit

motor impulses from the spinal cord to activate skeletal muscle
fibers.

first order neuron. Sensory neurons that receive synaptic input

from a peripheral sensory neuron (first order neuron) and then
carry the impulse to the brainstem and other lower centers in the
central nervous system are second order neu- rons.

Second order neurons frequently transmit the impulse to third

order neurons, which are located in higher centers of the central
nervous system.