Your skeletal muscles are attached to your bones by tendons and allow you to move and maintain an upright posture. Some muscles, like those that help you smile or flex your fingers, are just a few inches long, while others, like those in your thighs, are big and bulky.
But have you ever wondered which muscle which is the biggest and which is the smallest?
The answers depend on whether muscles are measured by mass or surface area.
The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body by mass, D. Ceri Davies, former president of the Anatomical Society of the United Kingdom, told Live Science in an email. The best known of gluteal muscles, the gluteus maximus runs diagonally from the top center of the pelvis to the femur, or thigh bone. It accounts for about 12% to 13% of the total weight of all leg muscles, according to one study study of adult cadavers.
“The gluteus maximus extends the thigh at the hip joint,” said Davies. “We use it when getting up from a chair, walking up steps or climbing a hill. It needs to be powerful to move the weight of the entire upper body.”
Related: Why is it harder for some people to build muscle than others?
Of course, training for sports that require ample glute strength – how to run — can increase the size of the gluteus maximus. A small study found that the absolute volume of the gluteus maximus of elite sprinters was about 45% greater than that of sub-elite sprinters.
And interestingly, the human gluteus maximus muscle is larger than that of monkeys and monkeys, at least in relation to general body size. Some scientists propose that their large size may be an evolutionary adaptation to certain demands imposed by being bipedal, meaning vertically on two legs. For example, the gluteus maximus is critical to humans’ ability to climb stairs and run standing up.
The latissimus dorsi, commonly called the “lats,” is the largest muscle in the human body in terms of surface area, Davies said.
There are two triangle-shaped latissimi dorsi – one on each side of the spine. These broad, flat muscles sit on top of the other muscles in your midsection and lower back. According to a 2021 study in International Journal of Morphology, an average adult latissimus dorsi measures about 7 inches (18 centimeters) wide and 14 inches (36 cm) long. That being said, this is just half inch (1.3 cm) thick.
On the opposite side of the muscle size spectrum is the stapedius, a small muscle within the ear. Measuring approximately 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) longis the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body.
“The stapedius is attached to the stapes, one of the small bones in the middle ear that carries sound vibrations from the eardrum to the auditory nerve,” Davies said. “Contraction of [the] The stapedius cushions the movement of the stapes, preventing nerve damage resulting from loud noises.
In other words, the small muscle stabilizes the stirrup to prevent it from vibrating too violently. The muscle contracts involuntarily in response to sounds of a certain volume – but if it only responds to extremely loud sounds or does not contract at all, it could be a sign of hearing loss. Therefore, although the stapedius is insignificant, it serves an important function.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
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