When most people think of muscles, they think of the muscles that move our arms and legs. These are called skeletal muscles because they move the skeleton. However, there are two additional types of muscles, including smooth muscle and the cardiac muscle. The basic function of all types of muscle is to create movement.

This chapter will review common word components related to the muscular system to assist learners in analyzing, building, and defining medical terms. Other terms, whose definitions cannot be easily built from word components, will be described in context based on the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system and common diseases and disorders. Medical specialists, diagnostic tests, and procedures related to the muscular system will also be discussed.