The Role of the Length-Tension Curve in the Control of Movement
- 1 January 2002
- book chapter
- Published by Springer Nature
- Vol. 508, 489-494
- https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0713-0_55
Abstract
The length-tension curve of muscle is one of the important descriptors of mechanical performance, and also a direct reflection of the underlying structure, particularly the number of sarcomeres connected in series in muscle fibres. This number is one of the most plastic properties of muscle, changing within days after changes in activity patterns. We propose that this adaptation is to prevent eccentric contractions from occurring beyond the optimum length for tension generation, since this is the region of sarcomere instability arid muscle damage. Evidence for this is presented for muscles from rats trained on a treadmill, and from motor units of the gastrocnemius muscle of the cat.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Damage to different motor units from active lengthening of the medial gastrocnemius muscle of the catJournal of Applied Physiology, 2002
- Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applicationsThe Journal of Physiology, 2001
- Changes in passive tension of muscle in humans and animals after eccentric exerciseThe Journal of Physiology, 2001
- Differences in rat skeletal muscles after incline and decline runningJournal of Applied Physiology, 1998
- The effects of stretch parameters on eccentricexercise-induced damage to toad skeletal muscleJournal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, 1998
- Decline running produces more sarcomeres in rat vastus intermedius muscle fibers than does incline runningJournal of Applied Physiology, 1994
- Selective damage of fast glycolytic muscle fibres with eccentric contraction of the rabbit tibialis anteriorActa Physiologica Scandinavica, 1988