Muscle contraction is the tightening, shortening, or lengthening of muscles when you do some activity. It can happen when you hold or pick up something, or when you stretch or exercise with weights.

The flow of water within a muscle fiber may dictate how quickly muscle can contract, according to a new study. The flow of water within a muscle fiber may dictate how quickly muscle can contract, ...

Using powerful new visualization technologies, researchers have captured the first 3-D images of the structure of a key muscle receptor, providing new insights on how muscles develop across the animal ...

For most people, swallowing is second nature, but how does it occur, and why do some people have difficulty with it? Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan have started to tackle these questions by ...

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy, affecting about 1 in 8,000 people.

At one point or another, we’ve all experienced the unexpected, intense pain of a muscle cramp. Muscle cramps, also known as muscle spasms or charley horses, are the involuntary contraction of muscle ...

Dehydration may be one cause of muscle cramps, and some evidence suggests that electrolyte imbalances also contribute to them. Muscle cramps are painful, involuntary contractions of the muscles that ...

Electrical muscle stimulation involves sending electrical impulses through the skin. This stimulation may provide benefits, such as helping repair tissue and strengthening the muscles. Share on ...

A gush of water, being doubled over in pain, the head of your baby crowning. These are things many women picture when they think of labor. However, for most laboring women, these things take time and ...

We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Why Trust Us? “Muscle stimulators do exactly what they promise—stimulate muscles,” Lori Diamos, M.S., P.T., ...

In a serendipitous discovery, UC San Diego researchers using cryo-EM technology captured the first visualizations of the 3-D structure of the muscle acetylcholine receptor in fetal and adult muscles.