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Four Characteristics Shared by All Muscle

There are three types of muscle in the human body: Skeletal, Cardiac, and Smooth muscle.  Only skeletal muscle is voluntary.  Both skeletal and cardiac muscle are striated, meaning that one can see alternating bands of light and dark.  Regardless, all muscle exhibits the following characteristics:   

-         Excitability:

o      All are capable of responding to a stimulus.

-         Contractility: 

o       All have the capacity to shorten and generate force.

-         Extensibility: 

o       All have the ability to be stretched. 

-         Elasticity

o       All have the ability to return to resting length after being stretched.