Introduction Accessory flexor muscles in the forearm were first reported by Gantzer in 1813 [1]. These small accessory muscles typically arise from the medial arm and forearm [2] and the deep surface of the flexor digitorum superficialis [3]. Gantzer muscles insert via thin tendons into the tendon of the flexor pollicis longus, digitorum superficialis, or flexor digitorum profundus [2–4]. Here,...

37 We examined elbow muscle activities and movement kinematics to determine how subjects combine elementary 38 control actions in performing movements with one and two trajectory segments. In reaching, subjects made a 39 rapid elbow flexion to a visual target before stabilizing the limb with either a low or higher level of cued elbow 40 flexor/extensor coactivity. Real-time biofeedback of instr...

The purpose of this study was to compare fatigue-related measures of central and peripheral mechanisms between young and elderly subjects for a task performed with elbow flexor muscles. Ten young and nine elderly subjects performed a sustained submaximal fatigue task at 35% of their maximum voluntary contraction torque. Measures of neuromuscular function, reflecting changes in neuromuscular pro...

Ten young men sustained an isometric contraction of the knee extensor muscles at 20% of the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) torque on three separate occasions in a seated posture. Subjects performed an isometric knee extension contraction on a fourth occasion in a supine posture. The time to task failure for the seated posture was similar across sessions (291 +/- 84 s; P > 0.05), and the MV...

Change in muscle tonus is characteristic of upper motor neuron disease. Upper limb hypertonus is mostly experienced in the flexor muscles group, causing abnormal fixed flexion of the elbow. This in turn leads to functional impairments in daily life (especially in stability while standing and walking, and in activities such as dressing), often accompanied by chronic pain. Extension of the spasti...

Whereas extensor muscles of decerebrate mammalian preparations usually present both phasic and tonic reflex contraction to stretch (Liddell & Sherrington, 1925), flexor muscles present phasic stretch reflexes only (Asayama, 1916). Under anaesthesia or during spinal shock (Creed, Denny-Brown, Eccles, Liddell & Sherrington, 1932, p. 51), tonic stretch reflexes are lost while phasic responses are ...

During locomotion, the limbs of one girdle must remain coordinated in different conditions. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying such coordination, tonic protraction/ retraction of one shoulder or tonic flexion/extension of one elbow was applied during fictive locomotion in high decerebrate and paralyzed cats. We studied bilateral changes in the timing and amplitude characteristics of...

The purpose of this study was to quantify the association between low-frequency fatigue (LFF) and the increase in EMG and force fluctuations after eccentric exercise of elbow flexor muscles. Ten subjects performed two tasks involving voluntary isometric contractions of elbow flexors: a maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and a constant-force task at five submaximal target forces (5, 10, 20, 40,...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of eccentric exercise on correlated motor unit discharge (motor unit synchronization and coherence) during low-force contractions of the human biceps brachii muscle. Eight subjects (age, 25 +/- 7 yr) performed three tasks involving isometric contraction of elbow flexors while EMG (surface and intramuscular) records were obtained from biceps ...