All Glossary Terms
Anatomy
Muscle Spindle
Sensory receptors in muscles that detect changes in muscle length.
Muscle spindles are sensory organs within muscles that detect changes in muscle length and the rate of that change. When a muscle is stretched rapidly, spindles trigger the stretch reflex, causing protective contraction. Understanding spindles helps explain why slow stretching is safer and why bouncing in stretches can be counterproductive.
Examples
- Stretch reflex when falling
- Knee-jerk reflex
- Why static stretching is held