Positive work done by a previously stretched muscle.

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Abstract
The positive work done by a muscle which shortens immediately after being stretched in the contracted state [W''] was greater than the positive work done by the same muscle during shortening from a state of isometric contraction [W], the speed, the length, and the extent of shortening being the same. The experiments were made on isolated toad sartorius and frog gastrocnemius, and in man on the forearm flexors. W'' and W were measured at different speeds of stretching and shortening and, on isolated muscles only, at different average lengths of the muscle: W''/W increased both with speed and length up to 2.5. The greater amount of work done after stretching is not entirely accounted for by the elastic energy stored during the stretching. The contractile component itself is responsible in part for this increase. The force developed by the contractile component, when the muscle shortens after being stretched, is greater than that developed, at the same speed and length, when it shortens starting from a state of isometric contraction.

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