Animals produce rapid movements using fast cyclical muscle contractions. These types of movements are better suited to faster muscle fibres within muscles of mixed fibre types as they can shorten at faster velocities and achieve higher activation-deactivation rates than their slower counterparts. Preferential recruitment of faster muscle fibres has previously been shown during high velocity con...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the therapeutic effect of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) according to treatment session on gastrocnemius muscle spasticity in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). METHODS Twelve children with spastic CP underwent 1 ESWT and 2 sham ESWT sessions for gastrocnemius (group 1) or 3 ESWT sessions (group 2) once per week for 3 weeks. Modified Ashworth Scale (M...

ABSTRACT We investigated age-related changes to fascicle length, sarcomere length and serial number (SSN), how this affects passive force. Following mechanical testing determine force, the medial gastrocnemius muscle of young (n=9) old (n=8) Fisher 344BN hybrid rats was chemically fixed at optimal for force production; individual fascicles were dissected measurement, laser diffraction used asse...

Purpose: The current study aimed at evaluating the effect of 5-toed shoes on electromyographic activity of leg muscles during the stance phase of running.  Methods: The current semi-experimental study recorded the electromyographic activity of tibialis anterior, soleus, gastrocnemius lateralis, and medialis muscles of 15 healthy male students (mean age: 24.5±3.4 years, mean height:...

BACKGROUND Tai chi is a form of exercise derived from the martial art folk traditions of China. The force used in tai chi includes different principles of mechanical advantage. No studies on the kinematic features of tai chi exercise have been published. OBJECTIVE To analyse the kinematics and electromyographic characteristics of tai chi. METHODS An experienced tai chi master was asked to p...

To date, most studies use surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals as the control source on active rehabilitation robots, and unilateral data are collected based on the gait symmetry hypothesis, which has caused much controversy. The purpose of this study is to quantitatively evaluate the sEMG activity asymmetry of bilateral muscles in lower extremities during functional tasks. Nine participant...

SWETT, J. E., EARL ELDRED, AND J. S. BUCHWALD. Somatotopic cord-to-muscle relations in efferent innervation of cat gastrocnemius. Am. J. Physiol. 2 19(3) : 762-766. 1970.-Motor innervation to the medial gastrocnemius muscle (MG) was examined in cats by stimulating natural rootlets and teased filaments of the ventral roots, and observing the location of contraction areas on the exposed muscle su...

People come in different shapes and sizes. In particular, calf muscle size in humans varies considerably. One possible cause for the different shapes of calf muscles is the inherent difference in neural signals sent to these muscles during walking. In sedentary adults, the variability in neural control of the calf muscles was examined with muscle size, walking kinematics and limb morphometrics....

Age-related neural and musculoskeletal declines affect mobility the quality of life older adults. To date, mechanisms underlying reduced walking economy in adults still remain elusive. In this study, we wanted to investigate which biomechanical factors were associated with higher energy cost compared young Fourteen younger (24 ± 2 years) fourteen (74 4 tested. Plantarflexor strength Achilles te...