Agonist-mediated reciprocal inhibition (RI) in distal skeletal muscles is an important neurophysiological phenomenon leading to improved movement coordination and efficiency. It has been shown to be reduced in aged and clinical populations, so the development of interventions augmenting RI is an important research goal. We examined the efficacy of using chronic passive muscle stretching to augm...

There is considerable support for the view that aerobic exercise may confer cognitive benefits to mild cognitively impaired elderly persons. However, the biological mechanisms mediating these effects are not entirely clear. As a preliminary step towards informing this gap in knowledge, we enrolled older adults confirmed to have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a 6-month exercise program. Male...

Functional performance of lower limb muscles and contractile properties of chemically skinned single muscle fibers were evaluated before and after 8 wk of maximal effort stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) exercise training. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis of eight men before and after the training period. Fibers were evaluated regarding their mechanical properties and subseq...

THE TIME THAT A MUSCLE IS UNDER TENSION DURING RESISTANCE STRENGTH TRAINING IS THOUGHT IMPORTANT IN MAXIMIZING THE HYPERTROPHIC RESPONSE OF SKELETAL MUSCLE. IMPLEMENTING STRETCHING IN BETWEEN SETS MAY INCREASE THE HYPERTROPHIC EFFECT BY ADDING TO TOTAL SESSION TIME UNDER TENSION AND AS SUCH INCREASE THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS NEUROMECHANICAL AND METABOLIC STIMULI THAT ARE THOUGHT IMPORTANT TO HYPERT...

The majority of stretching interventional research has focused on the development of a muscle's passive range of movement (PROM). Active range of movement (AROM) refers to the functional range of movement (ROM) available to the participant and provides a better insight into the relationship between muscular antagonistic pairings. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of 3 strengthe...

background: mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) can be expanded and differentiated into many mature cell types including smooth muscle cells (smcs). in addition to growth factor, cyclic stretch contributes to differentiation of stem cells. mechanical stimuli are critical to morphological changes, development, regeneration, differentiation and pathology of mesenchymal tissues. the aim of this study is...

It has been suggested that species with high breathing frequencies have pulmonary stretch receptors which adapt more rapidly than species with low breathing frequencies. This has proved not to be so. Our hypothesis is that this theory is in fact correct if modified so that overall rate of adaptation of afferent vagal activity, i.e. the sum of stretch and rapidly adapting receptors, is considere...

Structures consisting of cables and membranes have been of interest to engineers due to their higher ratio of strength to weight and lower cost compared to other structures. One of the challenges in such structures is presence of holes in membranes, which leads to non-uniform stress and strain distributions, even under uniform far-field deformations. One of the approaches suggested for controll...