What is Locomotion?
Locomotion is a functional necessity of the human lifestyle. Parents remember and celebrate the first time their child crawls, creeps, and takes a step, marking this function as a sociocultural milestone. The ability to move independently from one place to another is important to our independence. In a rehabilitation setting, the first question a patient or her family often asks is, when the patient can walk again.
Locomotion develops across the life span from crawling to rolling and creeping to erect walking to running, hopping, galloping, and skipping. The transition from one another form of locomotion depends on multiple factors. The interactions of the tasks to be accomplished, body systems function, and the environment in which the behavior is to be produced.
The change in locomotor patterns throughout a life span chart is a bell curve, first becoming more efficient and then slowly and potentially becoming less efficient and safe. The challenges of locomotion for the older adult may include falling, which presents a health risk and negatively impacts the quality of life.
In this particular article, we shall be discussing in detail the topic of locomotives. Students will be able to have a clear understanding of the topic by the end of the article. Students can also download the mobile app for easy access to all the study materials.
What is Locomotion?
In simple terms, locomotion is the entire displacement of a body from one place to the other. It includes acts like crawling, running, walking, etc. during this process actions take place in the wings, limbs, and flagella. This process of displacement requires a good amount of energy.
The Types of Locomotor Movements
There are three major types in the human body movement; these are amoeboid, ciliary, and muscular. Specialized cells in the body such as macrophages and leukocytes in the bloodstream exhibit amoeboid movement. It is affected by pseudopodia formed via the streaming of protoplasm.
Cytoskeletal elements such as microfilaments are involved in the amoeboid movement as well. Ciliary movement takes place in most of our internal tubular organs which are lined by ciliated epithelium. The coordinated movements of cilia in the tracheal tract helps in eliminating dust particles and some foreign substances that are inhaled along with the atmospheric air. The passage of the ova through the female reproductive tract is also assisted by the ciliary movement.
The movement of our limbs, jaws, tongue and other organs needs muscular movement. The contractile property of muscles is used for locomotion and other movements by human beings and the majority of multicellular organisms. Locomotion requires the well-coordinated activity of muscular, skeletal, and neural systems.
The Human Locomotory Organ
The musculoskeletal system in the human body which is also known as the locomotor system organizes locomotion in human beings. Through various muscles and the skeletal structure, it gives humans the ability to move. The musculoskeletal system provides support, form, movement, and stability to the body.
Human Skeleton and Locomotion
The skeleton system of the human body plays an important role in the locomotion of the human body. Locomotion depends on the association of the skeletal muscles present within the skeletal system. The system has some rigid forms of connective tissues called bones. Below is a summary of how the skeletal system works:
The skeletal system offers shape and posture to the human body.
The muscles of the skeletal system provide a framework for the body.
It offers a rigid surface for muscles to attach to the tendons.
It imparts a type of protection to the internal organs of the human body that are delicate, for example, the brain, spinal cord, lungs etc.
The skeletal system assists the body with locomotory movements from one place to another
The skeletal system helps in the movement of the sternum and the ribs, thus helping in the process of breathing.
Human Body Muscles Involved in Locomotion
Based on elasticity, excitability and extensibility, there are three types of muscles involved in human locomotion. The human locomotion muscle names are:
Skeletal muscles
Smooth muscles
Cardiac muscles
Skeletal Muscles: These are involuntary muscles and are not controlled by the human body. These muscles are present in the legs, neck, face etc. They can also be observed attached to bones and tendons. Tendons help in different types of movements of the skeleton and body parts. Skeletal muscles are striated and they are mainly responsible for the movement and the body.
Smooth Muscles: These are also involuntary muscles and do not come under the direct control of the human body. They arise from the autonomic nervous system and are not striated. Smooth muscles can be observed in the reproductive tract, alimentary canal, blood vessels and assist in movements through the tube-like structures of internal organs.
Cardiac Muscles: These muscles are generally observed in the heart and are striated. They are involuntary and assist in the workings of the heart, for example, the pumping of blood throughout the body.
Importance of Locomotion in Humans
Locomotion helps us in running through various conditions of the environment around us. The movement of limbs, trunk and head helps in changing the posture of the human body and maintaining equilibrium against gravity.
The movement of involuntary muscles such as the cardiac muscles observed in the heart maintains the circulation of blood throughout the body. The movement and locomotion of body parts are carried out by specialized muscles that are muscular and non-muscular by nature. Human locomotory movement involves the interaction and movements of tissues and joints such as cartilage, muscles, ligaments, bones, etc.
Key Learnings from the Chapter
Locomotion is the movement of the body parts which allows the functioning of the human body
The first locomotive action takes place when the child starts developing
Amoeboid, ciliary and muscular are the three types of locomotor movements
The skeletal system has a functional role in the locomotion movement.
FAQs on Locomotion
1. What is Meant by Locomotion?
Locomotion: In simple terms, locomotion means the ability of moving from one place to another. The human walk has been explained as striding and is considered as a mode of locomotion defining a special pattern of behaviour and a special morphology. It is also referred to as bipedalism.
2. What is Meant by a Locomotory?
Locomotory Meaning: In medical terms, locomotory means an organ having the power of locomotion. Examples of locomotory organs are flagella, cilia, pseudopodia etc. With respect to locomotion, locomotory movements primarily include the usage of feet for support. However, a human can travel using other parts of the body such as the hands and feet.
3. Write a Note on Skeleton Movement and Location with Respect to Locomotion Muscles
Please refer to the section above.
4. What is locomotion in plants?
Like organisms, plants also move from one position to the other. The change in their position is called locomotion. It can be bending, turning, twisting, elongation of plant parts, downward growth of roots, opening, and closing of stomata, the opening of petals, etc. However, such locomotion is infrequent in large plants which remains fixated to their position throughout their lifespan. Therefore, when you study the locomotion of organisms, it is important to know about the locomotion of plants as well.
5. What are the different stages of locomotion in a child’s development?
Locomotion is the activity to move from one place to the other. Different stages of locomotion in a child’s development are :
Crawling and creeping - in this stage the child initiates the locomotive movements by making self-efforts to move around and as a result, start crawling around
Sitting - then the next locomotive action is that of a sitting posture where the child tries to have a hold over the backbone of the body
Walking and running - the third and final stage is taking the first step and running around. The locomotion of a child develops fully to make them able to move around freely.
6. What are non-locomotor movements?
When a human body moves around without traveling any distance, it is called a non-locomotor movement. For eg, the swinging of arms and legs, shoulders rotation, arms bending, twisting, and stretching. These are also known as the axial movements as the movement is done along the axial of the body. Thus, it is the traveling of the body which differs a locomotor movement from a non-locomotor movement.
7. What is the difference between locomotion and movement?
There is some fundamental difference between the two:
In locomotion, the body changes its positions while in movement the body doesn't necessarily change its position
Locomotion is a voluntary act while movement can be voluntary as well as nonvoluntary
Movement is merely the displacement of the body parts from their original position while locomotion entirely displaces a body and makes it move from its position.
Locomotion requires a good amount of energy whereas movements might result in the production of energy itself.
8. Are the three systems that are muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems sufficient for locomotion?
Although the three systems are the muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems are very crucial in the function of movement, however, they are not sufficient and the movement and locomotion of the body parts require all 11 systems to function together. These 11 systems are the integumentary system, skeletal system, muscular system, lymphatic system, respiratory system, digestive system, nervous system, endocrine system, cardiovascular system, urinary system, and reproductive system. The coordination and synchronization of all these systems allow the body to move around freely.
