“Skeletal Muscles (Voluntary Muscles)”  

Skeletal Muscle

  In our body's muscular system, Skeletal Muscles are the primarily muscle fibers that contain bands or striations (striated muscles) connected to bones and responsible for skeletal movements. The peripheral portion of the central nervous system (CNS) controls the skeletal muscles. Thus, these muscles are under conscious, or voluntary, control. The basic unit is the muscle fiber with many nuclei. These muscle fibers are striated (having transverse streaks) and each acts independently of neighboring muscle fibers.
  In our body, Skeletal Muscles are attached to the bony framework of the body (called the skeleton), control voluntary movements, such as walking, reaching, and talking. Every time the body moves, a skeletal muscle contracts. Depending on where they are located and how they function, skeletal muscles vary considerably in size and shape, but they are all made up of bundles of fibers.

Each muscle fiber is made up of a sophisticated system of sliding filaments that, when "told" what do by the brain via the nervous system, cause contraction and movement.

The nerves that command the muscle are called motorneurons, and the place where a motorneuron meets the muscle is called the neuromuscular junction. Motorneurons communicate with muscles by secreting biochemical substances. The skeletal muscles receive biochemical energy and transform it into mechanical energy that causes muscles to contract and the body to move. *

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