Muscles, the Easy Way

While there is plenty of disagreement over the exact number of named skeletal muscles that exist in the human body, most sources agree that the number is over 600 (some say over 800).  If you consider all of the individual pieces of information the student needs to know regarding this topic it is no wonder so many students fear this subject.  Students must know the name, location, attachment sites and actions for almost every one of these muscles to feel like they can be confident on the MBLEx.  That means there are roughly over 4,000 points of information you need to understand for this one topic.

            The most difficult piece of information to memorize for this topic is undoubtedly the attachment sites (origins and insertions).  If you were to attempt to memorize the language utilized in any textbook or educational website for muscles, it would look something like this:

Trapezius muscle: (taken from KenHub)

Origin:                                                                                                                                                               Descending part (superior fibers): medial third of the superior nuchal line, external occipital protuberance, nuchal ligament
Transverse part (middle fibers): spinous processes and supraspinous ligaments of vertebrae T1-T4 (or C7-T3)
Ascending part (inferior fibers): spinous processes and supraspinous ligaments of vertebrae T4-T12

Insertion:                                                                                                                                                           Descending part (superior fibers): lateral third of clavicle
Transverse part (middle fibers): medial acromial margin, superior crest of spine of scapula
Ascending part (inferior fibers): lateral apex of the medial end of scapular spine

Now imagine doing that for 600 muscles!

            My system for learning the muscles bypasses this aspect by focusing on learning the exact locations of the individual muscles and physically “tracing” them out from origin to insertion as opposed to attempting to memorize the exact wording of these attachments for all of the muscles.  However, for this to work, the student MUST understand the skeletal system and its landmarks very well first in order to be successful.  So, step one in learning the skeletal muscles well is to first understand the bones and their landmarks.  Once the student knows this information well, they can move on to the muscles with far greater confidence.  Remember that the bony landmarks ARE the origins and insertions so knowing where the landmarks are by memory  and then learning the muscles by touch, allows you to skip the memorization of the exact wording for the attachments of the muscles.