Body & Senses
What do tendons do?
Puschel moves his paw. How does muscle force reach the bone?
The short answer
Tendons connect muscles to bones. When a muscle contracts, its tendon passes the pull to a bone. This can move a joint: a place where bones can move relative to one another.
An imagined Wusel scene
Puschel and Flauschi investigate
Puschel slowly bends his arm and watches his upper arm. Flauschi places two stiff paper strips as model bones and attaches a cord to one. Pulling moves the strip. “The cord only shows the pull,” Puschel notices.
“A real arm has much more to it than paper.”
Try explaining it
What does a tendon connect?
Choose a), b) or c), then explain your choice.
- a)A nerve and the skin without a connection to a bone.
- b)A muscle and a bone.
- c)Two bones at a joint without a connection to a muscle.
Show the explanation
Correct: b): A muscle and a bone.
Tendons connect muscles to bones. When a muscle contracts, its tendon passes the pull to a bone. This can move a joint: a place where bones can move relative to one another.
Word help
- tendon
- A strong connection that transfers a muscle's pull to a bone.
- joint
- A connection between bones. Many joints allow movement.
Explore in more detail
Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.
Understand step by step
How it works – simply explained
The muscle works
Bending an arm involves a working muscle shortening. Its pulling force needs a firm connection to reach bone.
The tendon transfers the pull
A tendon attaches muscle to bone. A strong pulling connection is a helpful comparison, but a tendon is living tissue, not a rope.
Ligaments do another job
Ligaments connect bone to bone and help stabilise joints. Tendons and ligaments are different. Both need careful treatment, never deliberate forceful pulling.
Tendons and ligaments have different jobs
A tendon connects muscle to bone and passes on its pull. A ligament connects bones and helps stabilise a joint. Movement and stability are different jobs around the same joint. A ligament is not another type of muscle. No strong pulling or twisting is needed to understand this.
References for this explanation: [1]