Tendons and Ligaments
Tendons and Ligaments
Tendon and ligaments are dense bands of dense connective tissue. Ligaments join bone to bone, and tendons join muscles to bone. An example of a ligament is the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee, and an example of a tendon is the Achilles tendon, which attaches your calf muscle to your heel. Tendons and ligaments are similar structures, but they have some important differences, which are summarised in the table below.
Comparison of Ligaments and Tendons
| Ligaments | Tendons |
|
join bone to bone |
attach muscles to bones |
|
consist of white collagen fibres and a network of yellow elastic fibres |
consist of non elastic collagen fibres which give tendons a white shiny appearance |
|
strong collagen fibres prevent dislocation at joints, and yellow elastic fibres allow flexibility at the joint |
parallel arrangement of strong collagen fibres in order to efficiently convert muscle contraction into movement of the skeleton |
This lesson is part of:
Animal Systems