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Muscular System

Organization of Muscles

Are there other categories of how muscles are named?

There are several other categories of muscle names. One of these is based on the location of the muscle attachment and its association with a particular bone. For example, the temporalis muscle is found covering the temporal bone, while the frontalis muscle is found covering the frontal bone of the skull. Another category deals with the number of origins. Some muscles have multiple origins and the number of origins is often used in the muscle’s name. An example is the biceps brachii muscle, which has two heads that attach to two different origins. A final category of muscle names deals with the relation of the muscle to the bone. Not only is a muscle sometimes named because of the bone to which it attached, but the name may be even more detailed to describe where its position is in relation to the bone or body part. Some of the terms and prefixes that describe position are: supra (above or over), infra (below or beneath), medialis (middle), external (outer), and inferior (underneath). The infraspinatus (an arm muscle connected to the humerus bone) is one example of muscles in this category.