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The Biggest, Smallest, Longest, and Strongest Skeletal Muscles in the Human Body

© Narayan Dattatray Wadadekar

The skeletal muscles are the striped, voluntary, powerfully and quickly contracting muscles. They are near the skin and are quite bulky.

The Body's Bulkiest Muscle

The biggest (bulkiest) of the skeletal muscles is the Gluteus maximus - the buttock muscle. It is a very superficial and prominent muscle. In humans it is bigger than that of chimpanzees and gorillas. There are three major muscles in the buttock: the Gluteus maximus, medius and minimus.

The Gluteus maximus has an origin in the iliac crest (the hip bones upper margin) as well as from the sacrum (the triangular bone forming the hip girdle). The Gluteus maximus is inserted into the femur, or thigh bone. The job of the Gluteus maximus is to move the thigh away from body in median line. It also rotates the thigh laterally, or sideways.

The Muscle With the Most Surface Area

The muscle with largest surface area is the latissimus dorsi, the broad muscle that covers the middle portion of the back. The word 'latissimus' itself means 'widest'. It originates from the last six thoracic vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae and last four ribs. It is inserted into the arm bone humerus with a tendon about 7 cm (slightly less than 3 in) long.

It helps in moving the arm toward the central axis of the body and also in arm rotation. Our shoulders can be drawn backwards and downwards with this muscle. It also helps in forced expiration in violent breathing movements, such as coughing or sneezing.

The Tiniest Muscle

The smallest skeletal muscle in the body is in the ear. It is the stapedius, attached to the smallest bone in the body, the stapes. The stapedius measures 1/20th of an inch (about 1.25 mm). This muscle helps to move the bones in middle ear that form the delicate hearing apparatus, and helps protect our sensitive inner ear.

The Longest Muscle

The body's longest muscle is the sartorius. It is a strap-like, narrow muscle which runs from the hip to the knee. It has its origin in upper part of ilium, the ear-shaped hip bone, and is inserted into the tibia, the broad, strong bone of the shank. The insertion resembles a flattened tendon. The sartorius moves our leg nearer the body in midline and helps to rotate and cross the leg.

The Srongest Muscle

It is claimed that the strongest muscle, in terms of force applied per unit area, is the masseter, the chewer muscle. Pressures to the tune of 122 kg or 270 lbs have been mentioned for force of bite of human molars. Jaw pressures of some 165 kg have been recorded by some reserachers, but not in humans - the data comes from dogs gnawing on bones.