Background: Myofascial force transmission occurs between muscles (intermuscular myofascial force transmission) and from muscles to surrounding nonmuscular structures such as neurovascular tracts and bone (extramuscular myofascial force transmission). The purpose was to investigate the mechanical role of the epimuscular connections (the integral system of inter- and extramuscular connections) as well as the isolated role of extramuscular connections on myofascial force transmission and to test the hypothesis, if such connections are prestrained. Method of approach: Length-force characteristics of extensor hallucis longus (EHL) muscle of the rat were measured in two conditions: (I) with the neighboring EDL muscle and epimuscular connections of the muscles intact: EDL was kept at a constant muscle tendon complex length. (II) After removing EDL, leaving EHL with intact extramuscular connections exclusively. Results: (I) Epimuscular connections of the tested muscles proved to be prestrained significantly. (1) Passive EHL force was nonzero for all isometric EHL lengths including very low lengths, increasing with length to approximately 13% of optimum force at high length. (2) Significant proximodistal EDL force differences were found at all EHL lengths: Initially, proximal EDL force , where as distal EDL force (mean SE). EHL lengthening decreased the proximo-distal EDL force difference significantly (by 18.4%) but the dominance of EDL distal force remained. This shows that EHL lengthening reduces the prestrain on epimuscular connections via intermuscular connections; however; the prestrain on the extramuscular connections of EDL remains effective. (II) Removing EDL muscle affected EHL forces significantly. (1) Passive EHL forces decreased at all muscle lengths by approximately 17%. However, EHL passive force was still nonzero for the entire isometric EHL length range, indicating pre-strain of extramuscular connections of EHL. This indicates that a substantial part of the effects originates solely from the extramuscular connections of EHL. However, a role for intermuscular connections between EHL and EDL, when present, cannot be excluded. (2) Total EHL forces included significant shape changes in the length-force curve (e.g., optimal EHL force decreased significantly by 6%) showing that due to myofascial force transmission muscle length-force characteristics are not specific properties of individual muscles. Conclusions: The pre-strain in the epimuscular connections of EDL and EHL indicate that these myofascial pathways are sufficiently stiff to transmit force even after small changes in relative position of a muscle with respect to its neighboring muscular and nonmuscular tissues. This suggests the likelihood of such effects also in vivo.
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October 2005
Technical Papers
Pre-Strained Epimuscular Connections Cause Muscular Myofascial Force Transmission to Affect Properties of Synergistic EHL and EDL Muscles of the Rat
Can A. Yucesoy,
Can A. Yucesoy
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen, Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands and Biomedical Engineering Institute, Boğaziçi University
, Istanbul, Turkey
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Guus C. Baan,
Guus C. Baan
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Bart H. F. J. M. Koopman,
Bart H. F. J. M. Koopman
Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen,
Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands
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Henk J. Grootenboer,
Henk J. Grootenboer
Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen,
Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands
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Peter A. Huijing
Peter A. Huijing
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen, Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands
Search for other works by this author on:
Can A. Yucesoy
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen, Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands and Biomedical Engineering Institute, Boğaziçi University
, Istanbul, Turkey
Guus C. Baan
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bart H. F. J. M. Koopman
Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen,
Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands
Henk J. Grootenboer
Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen,
Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The Netherlands
Peter A. Huijing
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Toegepaste Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen,
Vrije Universiteit
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Integrated Biomedical Engineering for Restoration of Human Function, Faculteit Constructieve Technische Wetenschappen, Universiteit Twente
, Enschede, The NetherlandsJ Biomech Eng. Oct 2005, 127(5): 819-828 (10 pages)
Published Online: May 18, 2005
Article history
Received:
December 15, 2003
Revised:
May 18, 2005
Citation
Yucesoy, C. A., Baan, G. C., Koopman, B. H. F. J. M., Grootenboer, H. J., and Huijing, P. A. (May 18, 2005). "Pre-Strained Epimuscular Connections Cause Muscular Myofascial Force Transmission to Affect Properties of Synergistic EHL and EDL Muscles of the Rat." ASME. J Biomech Eng. October 2005; 127(5): 819–828. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1992523
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