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In physiology, medicine, and anatomy, muscle tone (aka residual muscle tension or tonus) is the continuous and passive partial contraction of the muscles. It helps maintain posture, and it declines during REM sleep. It is not to be confused with the concept of toning in physical exercise. Unconscious nerve impulses maintain the muscles in a partially contracted state. If a sudden pull or stretch occurs, the body responds by automatically increasing the muscle's tension, a reflex which helps guard against danger as well as helping to maintain balance. The presence of near-continuous innervation makes it clear that tonus describes a "default" or "steady state" condition. There is, for the most part, no actual "rest state" insofar as activation is concerned. In terms of skeletal muscle, both the extensor and flexor muscles, under normal enervation maintain a constant tone while "at rest" that maintains a normal posture.
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