Maximum joint range of motion is an important parameter influencing functional performance and musculoskeletal injury risk. Nonetheless, a complete description of the muscle architectural and tendon changes that occur during stretch and the factors influencing maximum range of motion is lacking. We measured muscle-tendon elongation and fascicle lengthening and rotation sonographically during ma...

The purpose of this study was to characterize the effect of speed and influence of individual muscles on hamstring stretch, loading, and work during the swing phase of sprinting. We measured three-dimensional kinematics and electromyography (EMG) activities of 19 athletes sprinting on a treadmill at speeds ranging from 80% to 100% of maximum speed. We then generated muscle-actuated forward dyna...

An increase in coronary perfusion, transversal stretch of the myocardium, increases developed force (F(dev)) (Gregg effect) through activation of stretch-activated ion channels (SACs). Lengthening of the muscle, longitudinal stretch of the myocardium, causes an immediate increase in F(dev) followed by a slow F(dev) increase (Anrep effect). In isometrically contracting perfused papillary muscles...

Work output of rat gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle (N = 5) was measured for stretch-shortening contractions, in which initiation of stretch occurred prior to the onset of activation, and for contractions with an isometric prephase. Duration of the active prephase (prestretch and pre-isometric) varied from 20 to 200 ms. Subsequent shortening (from optimum length + 4 mm to optimum length -2mm)...

Six primary (Ia) and seven secondary (II) muscle spindle afferents and eight Golgi tendon organ afferents (Ib) from the tibial anterior muscle of the cat, recorded at the dorsal roots, were subjected to a sinusoidal stretch of the host muscle, the frequency of which increased linearly from 2 to 80 Hz over four different lengths of time. Both the amplitude of the sinusoidal stretch and the prest...

OBJECTIVE Mechanical stimuli such as stretch increase glucose transport and glycogen metabolism in skeletal muscle. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in the mechanotransduction events are poorly understood. The present study was conducted in order to determine whether the signaling mechanism leading to mechanical stretch-stimulated glucose transport is similar to, or distinct from, the...