Tendons, Ligaments, Joints & Cartilage

Keywords

Tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, connective tissue, flexible, bendy, fibrous tissue, flexor, extensor, collagen.

Introduction

So, you've gone for a run, and you've 'pulled a muscle'. This isn't always the case. What is more likely is that you've stretched a tendon or torn a ligament. They are all connective tissues that connect to bones in one way or another.

Linking Bones Together

A series of connective tissues connect the joints in your body. These joints (like the elbow, or the knee) can't work without them, and need the supportive tissues to help with things like movement. They include:

Tendons: they connect muscles to bones. They are made up of fibrous tissue that can stretch and contract, or get smaller, and are generally quite flexible and bendy.

Ligaments: they connect bones to other bones. Some are flexible, some are more rigid. They provide support for internal organs.

Cartilage: its role varies throughout life. As a young baby, the knees are not fully formed, and cartilage is placed at the knee until it hardens at around age 5. Usually a very thin substance, cartilage needs to be maintained through diffusion, instead of the usual vein and capillary structure of other vessels or organs.

Of these three, you can significantly damage them, with irrepairable damage taking place later in life.

Watch this YouTube video for a visual tutorial on what they are.

Tendons: A Closer Look

There are three types of tendons:

The flexor tendons: they allow you to bend joints and fingers.
The extensor tendons: they allow you to straighten and extend toes.
The ligamentous tendons: they connect bones to other bones and muscles.

So, what do they actually do?

All working together, tendons allow the movement of your joints by either creating tension in the muscle. This makes the muscle contract and move. The other thing they do is provide additional support to a joint by reducing stress around the other parts of the muscle.

Ligaments: A Closer Look

Ligaments are the fibrous band of connective tissues that support the bones connection. If you look at the knee, there are two main ligaments connecting behind the kneecap.

There are two types of ligament:

Some of them have a rich amount of collagen in them, which makes them sturdy and inelastic.
Others have little or no collagen in them, which make them elastic and tough.

Cartilage: A Closer Look

The summary for cartilage is that is a connective tissue that has living cells living in pairs or an arranged bundle. It's makeup contains more collagen and less minerals than bone. It is found in the nose, ears and tracheaOtherwise known as the windpipe.. It prevents friction and withstands shock.

Interesting fact: a baby's knee is purely cartilage until they are up to 5 years old. This means that they have cartilage knees until it starts to ossify - turn from cartilage to bone.

For this reason, you will find it also sits between two bones to provide a cushion, so it prevents the friction as stated above.

Too Long; Didn't Read

Tendons, ligaments and cartilage are all connective tissues that connect to the bones of your skeleton. So, when you've "pulled a muscle", it is more likely to be this than an actual muscle.

Tendons connect our muscles to bones, and are made of fibrous tissue. Ligaments connect bones to other bones, and some are rigid, whereas others are quite flexible. Cartilage's role varies throughout life. It is placed at the knee during formative years, until we reach about 5 years. It also needs to be maintained through diffusion instead of vein and capillary structures of other vessels or organs.

There are three types of tendon - flexorThese allow you to bend joints and fingers., extensorThese allow you to straighten and extend toes., and ligamentousThese connect bones to other bones and muscles..

There are two types of ligament, and some have a rich amount of collagen in them, others have little or no collagen.