In situ studies involving supraphysiological muscle lengths and relative positions have shown that connective tissue linkages connecting adjacent muscles can transmit substantial forces, but the physiological significance is still subject to debate. The present study investigates effects of such epimuscular myofascial force transmission in the rat calf muscles. Unlike previous approaches, we qu...

Intramuscular pressure (PIM) was measured simultaneously in zones of the medial head of the gastrocnemius-plantaris muscle group (zone I, popliteal origin; zone II, central; zone III, near calcaneus tendon) to determine regional muscle mechanics during isometric tetanic contractions. Peak PIM averages were 586, 1,676, and 993 mmHg deep in zones I, II, and III and 170, 371, and 351 mmHg superfic...

The goal of our study was to examine whether the in vivo force-length behavior, work and elastic energy savings of distal muscle-tendon units in the legs of tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii) change during level versus incline hopping. To address this question, we obtained measurements of muscle activation (via electromyography), fascicle strain (via sonomicrometry) and muscle-tendon force (vi...

Anurans (frogs and toads) have been shown to have relatively compliant skeletal muscles. Using a meta-analysis of published data we have found that muscle stiffness is negatively correlated with joint range of motion when examined across mammalian, anuran and bird species. Given this trend across a broad phylogenetic sample, we examined whether the relationship held true within anurans. We iden...

Force transmission between rat ankle plantar-flexors has been found for physiological muscle lengths and relative positions, but only with all muscles maximally activated. The aims of this study were to assess intermuscular mechanical interactions between ankle plantar-flexors during (i) fully passive conditions, (ii) excitation of soleus (SO), (iii) excitation of lateral gastrocnemius (LG), an...