Anatomical terms of muscle This may be a bone, a tendon or the subcutaneous dermal connective tissue. Insertions are usually connections of muscle via tendon to bone. The insertion is a bone that tends to be distal, have less mass, and greater motion than the origin during a contraction. Muscles may also be described by the direction that the muscle fibres run in. Hypertrophy is increase in muscle size from an increase in size of individual muscle cells. This usually occurs as a result of exercise. Anatomical terms of muscle Muscles are described using unique anatomical terminology according to their actions and structure. There
Stapedius muscle nerve VII. Stapedius muscle The stapedius is the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body. At just over one millimeter in length, its purpose is to stabilize the smallest bone in the body, the stapes. The stapedius emerges from a pinpoint foramen in the apex of the pyramidal eminence (a hollow, cone-shaped prominence in the posterior wall of the tympanic cavity), and inserts into the neck of the stapes. The stapedius is supplied by the nerve to stapedius, a branch of the facial nerve. The stapedius dampens the vibrations of the stapes by pulling on the neck of that bone.