THE RANGE OF SARCOMERE LENGTHS IN THE MUSCLES OF THE HUMAN LOWER-LIMB

  • 1 October 1988
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 160, 79-88
Abstract
The sarcomere lengths of the following muscles of the human leg in the anatomical position were measured, using a previously described method based on diffraction: Rectus femoris (2.15 .mu.m), Vastus medialis (2.05 .mu.m), Vastus lateralis (2.17 .mu.m), Vastus intermedius (1.97 .mu.m), Biceps femoris short head (2.28 .mu.m), semimembranosus (2.54 .mu.m), semitendinosus (2.99 .mu.m), Tibialis anterior (3.01 .mu.m), Gastrocnemius (2.03 .mu.m) and Soleus (2.73 .mu.m). A method for the prediction of sarcomere length at other overall methods has been developed; this is used to predict the theoretical maximal and minimal sarcomere lengths for the muscles described above. When these are compared with an established length-tension curve for human muscle, the entire range of the curve is covered. However, it seems likely that during the normal range of movement, the sarcomere lengths will lie within the plateau region of the curve.