Muscular System Facts for Kids

A Picture of the Human Muscular System
  • System Name: The muscular system
  • System Purpose: Movement, support, involuntary actions and more
  • System Location: Throughout the human body
  • System Organs: Skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles
  • System TA ID: A04.0.00.000
  • System FMA ID: 72954

21 Muscular System Facts for Kids

  1. The muscular system is an organ system found throughout the human body.
  2. The muscular system enables movement, like walking, running, jumping and picking up a box.
  3. The muscular system supports blood circulation throughout the human body.
  4. The human muscular system, along with the skeletal system, make up the human musculoskeletal system.
  5. The human muscular system contains both voluntary muscles and involuntary muscles.
  6. A voluntary muscle is one you can control, like using your arms to pick up a box.
  7. An involuntary muscle is one you cannot control, like your heart beating to pump blood throughout your body.
  8. The human muscular system is made up of three different types of muscles.
  9. The three different types of muscles are cardiac muscles, skeletal muscles and smooth muscles.
  10. Cardiac muscles are involuntary muscles found in the human heart.
  11. Cardiac muscles are the main tissue that encase the human heart.
  12. Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles that allow you to move and support your posture.
  13. The human body has around 640 skeletal muscles.
  14. Smooth muscles are involuntary muscles found in organs, like the intestines or the stomach.
  15. Smooth muscles are common in the digestive tract, urinary tract and in blood vessels.
  16. The largest muscle in the muscular system is found in the human buttock, it’s the gluteus maximus.
  17. The smallest muscle in the muscular system is found in the human ear, it’s the stapedius.
  18. One of the strongest, if not the strongest muscles of the muscular system is the masseters muscles in the human jaw.
  19. The most active muscle in the muscular system is the heart. It pumps blood 24 hours day, never gets tired and can beat over 3 billion times in lifetime.
  20. The least used muscle in the muscular system is in the lower back, it’s the lumbar multifidus.
  21. Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause weakness and a continuous loss of muscle mass.

Additional Resources on the Human Muscular System

About the author
Facts Editor

This is an author profile for articles that are created from a collaborative effort. It is not uncommon that articles on this site were either written, researched or fact checked by several authors and team members. So this author profile will be displayed to reflect that. Our team of editors, writers and fact checkers do extensive research before publishing articles on the site, and we do our best to provide the most accurate information possible.