Fig. 1.

Tissue morphology of tendon, ligament, and musculoskeletal junctions of the human elbow. (Clockwise from top right) Tendons (which connect muscle to bone) and ligaments (which connect and stabilize bones) share similar properties but have slightly different orientation of collagen fibrils; whereas tendons have parallel arrangements of fibrils, ligament fibrils can overlap and cross. The tendon enthesis features graded, intermediate tissue types that facilitate the transmission of force from tendon to bone, whereas the myotendinous junction facilitates the joining of tendon and muscle through interactions of ECM proteins.