Читать книгу Musculoskeletal Disorders - Sean Gallagher - Страница 80

Tendons are a type of dense regular connective tissue since they are arranged in a highly organized pattern with a clear predominance of collagen fibers over ground substance and cell numbers. They can also be thought of as a fibrous cord or band of variable length that anchor muscles to bone. Many muscles have two tendons at both their proximal and distal ends (such as the biceps muscle of the upper extremity), although some muscles attach directly to bone without a tendon (such as the proximal attachments of deep flexor and extensor muscles on the radius and ulna). Tendons may unit with muscles at the end of a muscle, or it may run along the side of the muscle or within its center for long or short distances, receiving muscle fibers along its lateral border. The point of union with a muscle is called a myotendinous junction (Kannus, 2000). Although tendons are characterized by their great tensile strength (Benjamin & Ralphs, 1998), they have dynamic characteristics that belie their appearance and respond to exercise or immobilization by altering their tensile strength (Woo & Buckwalter, 1988). Aponeuroses are similar in structure to tendons, although they are thinner sheet‐like structures and connect one muscle to another muscle or to bone. The overall characteristics of tendons are summarized in Table 3.3.