The Tendon Cables
Collagen ropes from muscle to bone
Muscles are strong, but they're soft and squishy. They need cables to yank on bones — and those cables are tendons. The Achilles tendon you met in Lesson 2 is just one of hundreds!
A tendon joining muscle to bone
Real anatomy picture coming soon
Real anatomy photo spot: a thick, shiny tendon cable feeding into bone
Collagen ropes
Tendons are made of collagen — tough protein strands twisted together like rope. They barely stretch, which is perfect: when your muscle pulls, nearly ALL the force zips straight through the tendon to the bone. A stretchy cable would waste the pull.
The strongest cables
The Achilles tendon can handle forces over 900 kg when you sprint — the strongest tendon in the body. But every finger has its own cable (Lesson 21), your kneecap hangs in one (Lesson 8), and your shoulder, hip, and hamstring all pull through tendons too. Wherever a muscle meets a bone, there's a cable.
Mr. Bones says: I'm a fictional skeleton, not a doctor! This is for learning and fun. If anything hurts, stop and tell a grown-up you trust.
