Major for muscles?

[jojocola]

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I have recently become very interested in the way muscles work. I'm wondering what major would help me the most in understanding it? I was thinking neurobiology, but a lot of the concentration on that is, obviously, the neurons.

From what I have found on the net, a lot of the muscle reseach is done by engineers. They are trying to create synthetics and stuff.. which is cool. But I'm more into manipulation and regeneration of organic muscles.

Any help?

 

[DrVanNostran]

I have recently become very interested in the way muscles work. I'm wondering what major would help me the most in understanding it? I was thinking neurobiology, but a lot of the concentration on that is, obviously, the neurons.

From what I have found on the net, a lot of the muscle reseach is done by engineers. They are trying to create synthetics and stuff.. which is cool. But I'm more into manipulation and regeneration of organic muscles.

Any help?

Just some random majors:

Biomedical Engineering and Excerise Physiology. My brain is slow tonight.

 

[EBI831]

if your school has kinesiology major it would tell you what you're looking for. BME might be way too difficult with just a little section on muscle work.

 

[scrubsaresexy]

Second the kinesiology major. One of my dance teachers wanted me to major in it, but my school only has bio, chem, and biochem (how boring!) so no cool specialized majors for me 🙁

But yeah, that is essentially a major in the movement of the human body, so that would be what you're looking for!

 

[badasshairday]

Physiology. Concentrate on Exercise physio for your upper div.

 

[Long Dong]

Physiology. Concentrate on Exercise physio for your upper div.

I'd say Physiology or bio engineering too.

 

[gsmithers68]

My school has an exercise physiology focus in the human phys department. Pretty much all those majors do is cardiovascular physiology and muscle stuff. So that is what I'd tell you to go into. In reality, make it a focus and take the upper division classes, but make sure you have ample prep in other realms of biology for the MCAT because that test does not focus on muscles 🙂

 

[Robizzle]

Definitely NOT BME.

 

[pagemmapants]

Physiological Science.

 

[dannylee718]

Creative Writing or World Religions.

 

[Dr. MightyMouse]

I took an Exercise Phys class and it was pretty much exactly what you are looking for. If you are looking to do an entire major, my school also offers the Exercise Science and Sports Studies thing other people mentioned. Other schools have similar programs, but that'll be a good starting point.

 

[ropeadope1983]

I'm not sure if selecting a particular major will be all that important in the scheme of things related to your interests in muscles. You may find kinesiology and exercise physiology majors less stimulating because they often tend to be a lot less challenging than other majors (at my school they push as many athletes, especially football players, as possible into kinesiology majors because they are more confident that they can actually get decent grades and remain eligible for those sports). Not to say that a less challenging major is necessarily a bad thing of course, but you might wonder what you are really getting out of your tuition dollars after all is said and done if you feel that you received a less than adequate education (as many of my friends in kinesiology stated they did).

I would personally recommend you stimulate your interests in muscles by seeking out professors in your school who are also interested in muscle biology. You may actually find that doing research with an expert in the field you are truly interested in will do a lot more for you than selecting a particular major tailored towards muscles. Many times there are also a lot of elective opportunities where you can take independent study classes that are wide open in terms of what you need to do (you can use these as opportunities to get to know experts in the field of muscle biology and have them assign to you research papers/textbook chapters that they highly recommend for you to read that will really give you an advanced mastery in this topic you are interested in).

 

[Fermata]

I have recently become very interested in the way muscles work. I'm wondering what major would help me the most in understanding it? I was thinking neurobiology, but a lot of the concentration on that is, obviously, the neurons.

From what I have found on the net, a lot of the muscle reseach is done by engineers. They are trying to create synthetics and stuff.. which is cool. But I'm more into manipulation and regeneration of organic muscles.

Any help?

Come to the dark side(D.O.). 😀

 

[Delicate Genius]

I am an Exercise Science/Sports Medicine Major, and I completely agree that this major is easier than some of the harder sciences like Chemistry and Physics. I would say that it is just as easy as Biology since they both basically require you to utilize your memorization skill. However, I disagree that it is a waste of tuition money. I personally feel that it is a great major for pre-meds since it allows you to receive education in nutrition, exercise physiology, exercise prescription, etc… which you would not otherwise get in medical school.

I would argue that other majors (such as chemistry/biology/physics/ engineering) are a waste for many since they are basically useless once they become physicians

 

[gsmithers68]

I am an Exercise Science/Sports Medicine Major, and I completely agree that this major is easier than some of the harder sciences like Chemistry and Physics. I would say that it is just as easy as Biology since they both basically require you to utilize your memorization skill. However, I disagree that it is a waste of tuition money. I personally feel that it is a great major for pre-meds since it allows you to receive education in nutrition, exercise physiology, exercise prescription, etc… which you would not otherwise get in medical school.

I would argue that other majors (such as chemistry/biology/physics/ engineering) are a waste for many since they are basically useless once they become physicians

Biology is a very broad field. I'll trade your exercise science class for my developmental neurobiology or human molecular genetics class. I think it depends on what focus you are talking about.

 

[riceman04]

Yeah...I'd say Kinesiology...usually you take exercise phys and biomechanics as part of this major (plus one other course...but I don't know the name off top of my head).

Bio eng is great too!!!

 

[Delicate Genius]

Biology is a very broad field. I'll trade your exercise science class for my developmental neurobiology or human molecular genetics class. I think it depends on what focus you are talking about.

I couldn't agree more. I am actually double majoring in Exercise Science and Biology. Human molecular genetics sounds interesting (my school doesn't offer it)...is it much different from regular genetics.

 

[moto_za]

do nutritional sciences

 

[StudDoctor]

I would argue that other majors (such as chemistry/biology/physics/ engineering) are a waste for many since they are basically useless once they become physicians

I disagree. I think that the way some of these majors train you to think and use your mind is invaluable whether you go into medicine or otherwise. Regardless of what you major in, you will most likely forget much of the information you learned once you begin med school anyway. However, it's much harder to forget how to think...😕

 

[zxcv1234]

Athletic Training

 

[Delicate Genius]

I disagree. I think that the way some of these majors train you to think and use your mind is invaluable whether you go into medicine or otherwise. Regardless of what you major in, you will most likely forget much of the information you learned once you begin med school anyway. However, it's much harder to forget how to think...😕

I was talking more about the content of the courses, but you make a good point. However, I have to respectively disagree. Thinking like a chemist or an engineer is different than thinking like a physician. Any major can give you critical thinking skills. Being pre-med, most of us automatically have minors in some of these “critically-thinking” majors (I have taken over 40 credits in Math, Physics, and Chemistry combined.) You will have 7-10 years to learn how to think critically like a physician in medical school and residency, so you shouldn't choose a major to “teach you how to think.” Choose a major which interests you.

 

[DoctorDon123]

.

 

[63768]

exercise physiology is your best bet.

 

[SaveThisLabRat]

Physiology for sure. I am also interested in systems and musculature. I seriously recommend it.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Physiology for sure. I am also interested in systems and musculature. I seriously recommend it.

Seems like your best bet if you're headed for med school. With these exercise physio and kinesiology things you want to sort of poke around and find out who is doing them. At my UG these sort of things were for the physical therapy crowd. There's nothing wrong with PT, but it ain't medicine.

 

[Law2Doc]

Do the basics, bio/phys/anatomy.

I am unclear whether the OP even has an interest in med school. If I had his interests I probably would tend to agree that the bio/physio type courses are the ones to start with, and see what develops from there.

 

[ropeadope1983]

I 2nd the athletic training. That was my major and the course material had a major emphasis on muscles. I took kinesiology and exercise physiology, which were already mentioned, but majoring in athletic training gives you more of the medical knowledge that will prepare you a little for med school.

This is something very unique to me, that someone who is premed majoring in athletic training actually recommends the same route to another premed. Did you not have rotations with the athletic teams at your school that required anywhere from 20-40 hours per week? If so, then did you not feel that this somewhat hindered your ability to compete with other premeds in your premed courses (based on the shear magnitude of that time committment in addition to being a full-time student)? Along those same lines were you not at all discouraged by the massive volume of scut work that was forced upon you as a student athletic trainer in your internship roles?

Granted there are valuable experiences that can be had as a student athletic trainer in relation to being pre-med, the vast majority of the student athletic trainers I got to know felt very abused by the system. If you major in athletic training hoping to gain a mastery of muscle biology, you may be dissappointed to find that most of your days are spent making ice bags, filling water jugs, giving free massages, doing funny things with tape, throwing ibuprofin at people in mass quantities, sitting bored on the sidelines during practice and games just waiting for someone to get injured, and on top of all that being a slave to a system where staff athletic trainers utilize their students for free labor so they can be forced into doing all the things that they themselves just don't want to do.

Why not just major in something like biology and utilize your elective credits and extracurricular activities to stimulate your interest in muscle biology? That way you can more easily opt out if you decide that your interests have changed or that your time committments to extracurriculars are causing your grades to drop (it is a lot easier to drop an EC if you run into trouble than to switch majors, espcially a speciallized major like athletic training).

 

[DoctorDon123]

;

 

[ropeadope1983]

Yes athletic training internship hours were very time consuming and involved some "scut" work, but as you progress in the program you take on a great deal of responsibilities and the scut work decreases. I guess it depends on the particular school and the program too. 3 of my classmates will be attending medical school. I liked it because you are able to apply the knowledge you are learning in the classroom directly in the clinical setting and have weekly interaction with an orthopedic surgeon discussing the athletes that are injured. My school also had an opportunity for us to go to a kinesiology lab, using EMG's and such to test muscle functioning in a particular situation (which might interest the OP). You are right about the hours though, they take their toll on you. I used the hours as medical experience on my application, so they are not for nothing. I thought it was a great major for me because I want to do orthopedics. If you are not down for all of the clinical hours then I would say no, don't do it.

That's cool. It sounds like you had a pretty good program at your UG. From what I have heard at my school there are always a good number of students who start out pre-med and also major in athletic training, but as they progress they neither keep their desire to be pre-med, nor do they end up having any desire whatsoever to become athletic trainers (they usually settle halfway by going PT or PA route). Usually it involves a decline in their grades due to the time committments. It may also have something to do with the fact that the program director and others who run the show really openly discourage their students from aspiring to go to medical school. I'd like to think that the program at my school is an isolated incident, but it really makes sense for the athletic training profession to try to encourage their students to actually become athletic trainers upon graduation (even if it means doing things that discourage students from going pre-med, pre-PT or any other route).