Question

In a pennate muscle pattern...

a. muscles appear to be strap-like
b. there is a narrow origin diverging into a broad insertion
c. there is a broad origin and fascicles converge toward a single tendon
d. muscles look like a feather

Answer 1

A pennate muscle pattern describes muscles that have a feather-like arrangement with fibers attaching at an angle to a centrally running tendon, which can lead to a higher tension output.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a pennate muscle pattern, the muscle fibers blend into a tendon that runs through the central region of the muscle, resembling the quill of a feather with the muscle fibers arranged like the barbs of the feather. This design allows pennate muscles to contain more muscle fibers and therefore generate more tension compared to other muscle types, though their tendons do not move as far during contraction. When examining the specific arrangement, d. muscles look like a feather accurately describes a pennate muscle pattern. Additionally, there are multiple subtypes of pennate muscles, such as unipennate, bipennate, and multipennate, which relate to how the fascicles attach to the tendon.