MICROANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -A. Muscles work in pairs to facilitate movement of the bones around the joints. Agonists are the prime movers while antagonists oppose or resist the movements of the agonists. Synergists assist the agonists, and fixators stabilize a muscle’s origin.

Detailed explanation-2: -In this example, biceps brachii is the agonist or prime mover. Triceps brachii is the antagonist and brachialis is a synergist with biceps brachii. As we begin to study muscles and their actions, it’s important that we don’t forget that our body functions as a whole organism.

Detailed explanation-3: -Antagonistic Muscle is a muscle that opposes the action of another. For example, when the triceps oppose the contraction of the flexing biceps by relaxing, the triceps would be regarded as the antagonistic muscle to the biceps whereas the biceps, the agonist muscle.

Detailed explanation-4: -A prime mover (agonist) is a muscle that bears major responsibility for effecting a particular movement. An antagonist is a muscle that opposes the action of the prime mover. Antagonists help regulate the action of the prime mover by contracting slightly to prevent overshooting the mark or to stop the movement.

Detailed explanation-5: -In an antagonistic muscle pair as one muscle contracts the other muscle relaxes or lengthens. The muscle that is contracting is called the agonist and the muscle that is relaxing or lengthening is called the antagonist.