Tendons attach to which structure?

Tendons attach to which structure?

• A. Bone to bone
• B. Tendon to bone
• C. Muscle to bone
• D. Muscle to muscle

Answer: (C)

Tendons connect muscle to bone, transmitting the force generated by muscle contraction to move the skeleton. They are dense regular connective tissue that links the muscle (merging with the muscle’s connective tissue) to the bone (anchoring into the periosteum, with collagen fibers often visible as Sharpey's fibers). This setup explains why movement occurs when a muscle pulls on a bone across a joint. The other pairings describe different structures: ligaments connect bone to bone for joint stability, and muscle-to-muscle connections aren’t how tendons function. So the structure that a tendon attaches to is the muscle, pulling on the bone to produce movement.

Tendons connect muscle to bone, transmitting the force generated by muscle contraction to move the skeleton. They are dense regular connective tissue that links the muscle (merging with the muscle’s connective tissue) to the bone (anchoring into the periosteum, with collagen fibers often visible as Sharpey's fibers). This setup explains why movement occurs when a muscle pulls on a bone across a joint. The other pairings describe different structures: ligaments connect bone to bone for joint stability, and muscle-to-muscle connections aren’t how tendons function. So the structure that a tendon attaches to is the muscle, pulling on the bone to produce movement.