Muscles are the most important executive organs - effectors. Both according to morphological and functional characteristics, muscles are divided into two types - striated and smooth. Striated muscles, in turn, are usually divided into skeletal and cardiac. Striated muscles form the motor apparatus of the skeleton, oculomotor, chewing and other motor systems in animals. The striated muscles, with the exception of the heart muscle, are completely controlled by the central nervous system, they are devoid of automatism.The problem of damage to skeletal muscles is very relevant and widespread. These injuries disrupt the musculoskeletal function of animals, up to its complete loss. To search for methods for restoring the structure and function of muscles, experiments are being carried out on laboratory animals. This article is devoted to the selection of the optimal model of skeletal muscle injury, performed on laboratory rats. The study was conducted on Wistar rats. The choice of the muscle on which the models will be worked out, as well as the surgical access to it, is substantiated. Three options for inflicting damage to muscle tissue (cut wounds directed parallel to muscle fibers; cut wounds directed across muscle fibers; crushed wounds of muscle tissue) and the timing of healing of these injuries are proposed. The result of the study showed that the gastrocnemius muscle is the most suitable for modeling damage to muscle tissue in rats, and a crushed wound has the longest healing time.