Answer:
When skeletal muscles contract, bones move. But how do muscles make your bones move? A voluntary muscle usually works across a joint. It is attached to both the bones on either side of the joint by strong cords called tendons. A tendon is a tough band of connective tissue that connects a muscle to a bone. Tendons are similar to ligaments, except that ligaments join bones to each other. Muscles move the body by contracting against the skeleton. When muscles contract, they get shorter. By contracting, muscles pull on bones and allow the body to move.
Muscles can only contract. They cannot actively extend, though they can move or relax back into the non-contracted neutral position. Therefore, to move bones in opposite directions, pairs of muscles must work in opposition. Each muscle in the pair works against the other to move bones at the joints of the body. The muscle that contracts to cause a joint to bend is called the flexor. The muscle that contracts to cause the joint to straighten is called the extensor. When one muscle is contracted, the other muscle from the pair is always elongated.
For example, the biceps and triceps muscles work together to allow you to bend and straighten your elbow. When you want to bend your elbow, your biceps muscle contracts (Figure below), and, at the same time, the triceps muscle relaxes. The biceps is the flexor, and the triceps is the extensor of your elbow joint. Other muscles that work together are the quadriceps and hamstrings used to bend and straighten the knee, and the pectorals and trapezius used to move the arms and shoulders forward and backward. During daily routines we do not use muscles equally. For example, we use our biceps more than our triceps due to lifting against gravity.
The biceps help contract the arm, while the triceps help extend the arm
The biceps and triceps act against one another to bend and straighten the elbow joint. To bend the elbow, the biceps contracts and the triceps relaxes. To straighten the elbow, the triceps contract and the biceps relax.
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