Recent advances in skeletal muscle physiology

Skeletal muscle is the largest mass of tissue in the body, accounting for 50%–75% of total body proteins and approximately 40% of total body weight. It plays key roles in motor function, heat generation, substrate storage, and glucose metabolism, perturbations of which leads to disease states. The basics of skeletal muscle physiology have been previously reviewed in this journal. Some of the key concepts are revisited in this review to help understand the recent advances in the field, together with their clinical importance.