Muscles as Actuators

This chapter examines what skeletal muscle is and how it operates, in order to gain a better understanding of how the functional properties of muscle facilitate effective locomotion. It focuses exclusively on striated skeletal muscle, since only this type of muscle is directly used to power and cont...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inUnderstanding Mammalian Locomotion pp. 51 - 78
Main Authors Gutmann, Anne K, Bertram, John E. A
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc 05.02.2016
Subjects
cross‐bridge theory
force production
Hill‐type model
muscle activation
muscle architecture
muscle operation
muscle performance
reptation model
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Summary:This chapter examines what skeletal muscle is and how it operates, in order to gain a better understanding of how the functional properties of muscle facilitate effective locomotion. It focuses exclusively on striated skeletal muscle, since only this type of muscle is directly used to power and control locomotion. As cross‐bridge theory does not provide a complete or perfect model of muscle function, an interesting alternative is the reptation model, where cross‐bridges do not actively contribute to force production but, rather, serve a passive, structural role. The chapter examines how force production changes with muscle length and muscle contractile velocity. The Hill‐type model is a phenomenological model constructed of simple machines whose behavior replicated the bulk properties of muscle. The chapter also discusses the muscle architecture, muscle performance and muscle activation. Muscle activation can be modulated to control muscle contractions with relative precision.
ISBN:9780470454640
0470454644
DOI:10.1002/9781119113713.ch3