how do muscles contract?
In: Biology
You can think of it almost like velcro. There are 2 strands, one is the hooks, the other side is the fabric that gets hooked on to. For a muscle to begin contracting, the hook side (myosin) will grab on to the fabric side (actin) and tug. This shortens the muscles a very small amount. To achieve a full contraction this process happens over and over again (cross bridge cycling) until there is no more room to shorten, or the force produced is no longer able to move the load. The actual process is called the sliding filament theory if you’d like to go in depth.
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