What is the Specific Function of the Cardiac Muscle?

1. Cardiac muscles are rapid, involuntary muscles that contract and relax cyclically, which means they never rest throughout an individual’s life.
2. The autonomic nervous system controls the function of cardiac muscle tissue.
3. The cardiac muscles are composed of cardiomyocyte cells.
4. The cells found in the cardiac muscles only contain a single nucleus. 
5. The cardiac muscles start dying if it does not receive oxygenated blood for 30 minutes. Lack of oxygen to the cardiac muscles might cause a heart attack.
6. These muscles are localised at the lining of the heart.

The cardiac muscle's first and foremost specific function is to supply blood throughout the body. The pacemaker cells in the heart help the cardiac muscle to contract and relax—this contraction and relaxation of the cardiac muscle aid in pumping blood.

The other specific function of the cardiac muscle are as follows:

1. It is also involved in movement or locomotion.
2. It also helps release various hormones like Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and B-type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP). These help in diagnosing heart diseases in a person.
3. The cardiac muscles contain the heart's natural pacemaker. These help in the contraction and relaxation in response to electrical impulses from the nervous system.

Before understanding how a cardiac muscle functions, let's first understand the basic structure and working of the heart, as it would help in learning the mechanism of cardiac muscles effortlessly:

The heart is made up of 4 chambers. There are two chambers at the top and two at the bottom, namely:

1. Right atrium: Here, two large veins bring deoxygenated blood from the body. The right atria pass this deoxygenated blood to the right ventricle.
2. Right ventricle: This chamber transfers the deoxygenated blood to the lungs. The lungs purify the blood.
3. Left atrium: The purified blood arrives in the left atrium. After that, the left atrium pumps blood to the left ventricle.
4. Left ventricle: This chamber pumps the received blood to the entire body. 

These cardiac muscles help contract and relax the chambers mentioned above, thus leading to the pumping of the heart. This contraction and relaxation of the cardiac muscle are carried out with electrical signals.

The heart's pumping mechanism is as follows:

1. Firstly, deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium through the inferior and superior vena cava (the two large veins).
2. The sinoatrial node (natural pacemaker) releases electrical signals in the right atrium, due to which the right atrium contracts. This contraction of the right atrium pumps blood to the right ventricle. 
3. As the right ventricle fills up, the valves in the ventricle shut, preventing the blood from flowing back into the right atrium.
4. The right ventricle then contracts and sends the blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery, where the blood gets oxygenated, which then returns to the left atrium through the blood vessel known as the pulmonary vein.
5. Then, the electric impulses make the left atrium contract. This contraction pumps the blood to the left ventricle. 
6. As the left ventricle fills up, the valves in the left ventricle shut. As the left ventricle contracts, the blood is pushed into the aorta, a significant blood vessel from the heart that supplies the whole body.
7. This cycle of regular atrial and ventricular contractions keeps on repeating. Generally, the sinoatrial node (SAN) releases the electrical signal at least 60 to 100 times a minute. Hence a normal heartbeat lies within this range.

Cardiomyopathy is a heart-related disease that makes it difficult for the cardiac muscle to pump blood in the body. Different types of cardiomyopathy are present that depends on what area is affected and how. 

These are the following types of cardiomyopathy:

1. Dilated Cardiomyopathy: There are two chambers in the heart, the ventricles and auricles. In dilated cardiomyopathy, ventricles become too weak to pump blood. This issue causes problems to the whole cardiac muscle. 
2. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: In this condition, the cardiac muscle gets thickened and more significant than usual at the ventricle part. Thereupon causing difficulty to the cardiac muscle. 
3. Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD): In the right ventricle, the fatty tissues replace the cardiac muscle tissue. This condition results in an abnormal heart rate also referred to as arrhythmia. 
4. Restrictive Cardiomyopathy: In restrictive cardiomyopathy, the ventricles harden. Consequently, they become unable to pump enough blood into the body. 

The risk factors for cardiac muscle disease are as follows:

1. High blood pressure 
2. Stress
3. Obesity
4. Unhealthy eating
5. Alcohol consumption
6. Smoking 
7. Past heart attacks
8. History of heart diseases in the family

Cardiac muscles play a pivotal role in everyone's lives. Thus, it is also necessary to keep them healthy. Following are some of the health tips to keep your cardiac muscles in a healthy state.

1. Walk daily, even if it's only 30 minutes.
2. Stop consuming alcohol
3. Quit smoking
4. Avoid junk food
5. Stop drinking the calories
6. Exercise daily 
7. Avoid stressful conditions

Cardiac muscles are involuntary muscles made up of cardiomyocyte cells. These muscles add to the heart's structure and are found in the heart's lining. The specific function of the cardiac muscles is to pump blood throughout the body. If these cardiac muscles are damaged due to medical conditions or any injury, then it can lead to a condition known as cardiomyopathy, which could turn fatal. However, its risk can be minimised by exercising daily and eating healthily. 

If you or any of your loved ones have cardiomyopathy, you must consult a specialist as soon as possible. You can also contact the patient care specialist of HexaHealth. HexaHealth is a one-stop platform for all your healthcare needs to support you during your surgical journey, from selecting the best facility to recovering after surgery. HexaHealth's expert team of more than 1500 doctors and surgeons can help you diagnose and recommend an appropriate treatment for your disease. So, talk to a HexaHealth specialist TODAY!