Fem- Simulation of Muscle Contraction and Recruitment

Introduction The force production of a muscle is influenced by numerous properties, the probability of links between actin and myosin resulting in a velocity-force relation – the degree of overlap between actin and myosin resulting in a length-force relation – and the activation behavior of a single muscle fiber as well as the activation of different motor units resulting in an activation function. During muscle experiments all these effects are involved simultaneously. Simulation helps to understand the influence and limits of the different properties. In this work the role of the activation function during a simple contraction and during recruitment is investigated.