Joints, Tendons & Ligaments
Explain biomechanics — the interaction between skeleton and muscles at joints, including the roles of tendons (attach muscle to bone) and ligaments (attach bone to bone)
What a learner can do afterwards
- Distinguishes between tendons and ligaments and gives the function of each
- Describes how a synovial joint works (e.g. the knee or elbow)
- Explains how force is transmitted from muscle through tendon to bone to produce movement
The lesson
Your skeleton gives your body its shape, but bones cannot move by themselves. Moving takes muscles, tendons, and ligaments working together, and each one has its own job.
A tendon connects a muscle to a bone. When the muscle contracts and gets shorter, it pulls the tendon, and the tendon pulls the bone. That pull is what makes the bone move.
A ligament connects one bone to another bone. It does not pull anything. Its job is to hold the two bones together at a joint and stop them from slipping too far out of place.
Look at your knee. Your thigh bone and shin bone meet there, and ligaments cross between them to hold the joint steady. A slippery fluid inside the joint lets the bones glide instead of grinding. When your thigh muscle contracts, it pulls a tendon, the tendon pulls your shin bone, and your knee straightens.
Tendon starts like 'to,' as in muscle to bone. Ligament links bone to bone. If it pulls, it is a tendon. If it just holds, it is a ligament.
Tendons pull bones to create movement. Ligaments hold bones together at the joint.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
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Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.