Skeletal muscle is the single largest tissue mass in the body, constituting 40% to 45% of the dry body weight. Muscles attach to the bones and produce movements or exert static forces. They can be connected directly to bone or insert on a bone by means of a tendon, which is a specialized type of connective tissue. The area of interface between a skeletal muscle and its tendon is called the musculotendinous junction. Skeletal muscles may take a variety of forms, from the slender sartorius to the broad, fan-shaped pectoralis major. However, their histologic architecture remains the same. Each muscle...
