Muscle short-range stiffness behaves like a maxwell element, not a spring: Implications for joint stability.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Muscles play a critical role in supporting joints during activities of daily living, owing, in part, to the phenomenon of short-range stiffness. Briefly, when an active muscle is lengthened, bound cross-bridges are stretched, yielding forces greater than what is predicted from the force length relationship. For this reason, short-range stiffness has been proposed as an attractive mechanism for providing joint stability. However, there has yet to be a forward dynamic simulation employing a cross-bridge model, that demonstrates this stabilizing role. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to test whether Huxley-type muscle elements, which exhibit short-range stiffness, can stabilize a joint while at constant activation.

Methods

We analyzed the stability

SUBMITTER: Barrett JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11324116 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature