A three-dimensional model of the rat hindlimb: Musculoskeletal geometry and muscle moment arms

Johnson, Will; Jindrich, Devin L.; Roy, Roland R.; Edgerton, V. Reggie

doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2007.10.004

Cited by 89 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Smith et al ., 2007; Johnson et al ., 2008; Charles et al ., 2016) or do not analyse the patellofemoral joint separately from the knee joint (e.g. O'Neill et al ., 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gearing effects of the patella (knee extensor muscle sesamoid) of the helmeted guineafowl during terrestrial locomotion

et al. 2017

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Human patellae (kneecaps) are thought to act as gears, altering the mechanical advantage of knee extensor muscles during running. Similar sesamoids have evolved in the knee extensor tendon independently in birds, but it is unknown if these also affect the mechanical advantage of knee extensors. Here, we examine the mechanics of the patellofemoral joint in the helmeted guineafowl Numida meleagris using a method based on muscle and tendon moment arms taken about the patella's rotation centre around the distal femur. Moment arms were estimated from a computer model representing hindlimb anatomy, using hip, knee and patellar kinematics acquired via marker‐based biplanar fluoroscopy from a subject running at 1.6 ms−1 on a treadmill. Our results support the inference that the patella of Numida does alter knee extensor leverage during running, but with a mechanical advantage generally greater than that seen in humans, implying relatively greater extension force but relatively lesser extension velocity.

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“…Smith et al ., 2007; Johnson et al ., 2008; Charles et al ., 2016) or do not analyse the patellofemoral joint separately from the knee joint (e.g. O'Neill et al ., 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gearing effects of the patella (knee extensor muscle sesamoid) of the helmeted guineafowl during terrestrial locomotion

et al. 2017

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“…Our results suggest that spasticity can affect muscles from the same compartment differently. It should be noted that the architecture of SO in rat (14,23) does not resemble that of SO in humans (18,25) and hence, comparisons should be made with caution. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that it would be of interest to investigate more than one muscle (typically GA) when investigating the mechanical properties of human spastic limbs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Muscle-specific changes in length-force characteristics of the calf muscles in the spastic Han-Wistar rat

Olesen

Jensen

Uhlendorf

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Physiology

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Olesen AT, Jensen BR, Uhlendorf TL, Cohen RW, Baan GC, Maas H. Muscle-specific changes in length-force characteristics of the calf muscles in the spastic Han-Wistar rat. J Appl Physiol 117: 989-997, 2014. First published September 4, 2014 doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00587.2014.-The purpose of the present study was to investigate muscle mechanical properties and mechanical interaction between muscles in the lower hindlimb of the spastic mutant rat. Length-force characteristics of gastrocnemius (GA), soleus (SO), and plantaris (PL) were assessed in anesthetized spastic and normally developed Han-Wistar rats. In addition, the extent of epimuscular myofascial force transmission between synergistic GA, SO, and PL, as well as between the calf muscles and antagonistic tibialis anterior (TA), was investigated. Active length-force curves of spastic GA and PL were narrower with a reduced maximal active force. In contrast, active length-force characteristics of spastic SO were similar to those of controls. In reference position (90°ankle and knee angle), higher resistance to ankle dorsiflexion and increased passive stiffness was found for the spastic calf muscle group. At optimum length, passive stiffness and passive force of spastic GA were decreased, whereas those of spastic SO were increased. No mechanical interaction between the calf muscles and TA was found. As GA was lengthened, force from SO and PL declined despite a constant muscle-tendon unit length of SO and PL. However, the extent of this interaction was not different in spastic rats. In conclusion, the effects of spasticity on length-force characteristics were muscle specific. The changes observed for GA and PL muscles are consistent with the changes in limb mechanics reported for human patients. Our results indicate that altered mechanics in spastic rats cannot be attributed to differences in mechanical interaction, but originate from individual muscular structures. muscle spasticity; mechanical properties; myofascial force transmission; muscle stiffness MUSCLE SPASTICITY HAS BEEN defined as a "velocity-depended resistance to stretch" (24) and arises secondary to upper motoneuron lesions with cerebral palsy and stroke as the most common examples (12). Individuals suffering from spasticity typically experience muscle weakness, enhanced joint stiffness, increased muscle tone, reduced range of joint motion, increased antagonistic co-contraction, and exaggerated reflexes (1,3,6,12,13,32,41,48). These effects severely impair the ability to perform daily activities, and treatment is often needed.To asses whether some of these symptoms are related to altered mechanical properties of muscle-tendon units (MTUs), passive and active length-force characteristics have been estimated as joint moment as a function of gastrocnemius (GA) fascicle length. Spastic GA was found to be stiffer than normally developed in such studies (2, 3). The active lengthforce curve of the spastic GA was narrower and the optimum length was shifted to a shorter fascicle length than in normally deve...

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“…Note that only the proximal TA nerve branch was excited. Based on existing data (Huijing and Baan, 2001a;Johnson et al, 2008;Maas et al, 2001) estimated maximum TA ankle moment was 21 mNm. Combining this with our data (TA moment 18.7 7 3.4 mNm; see Section 3) indicates that we excited $ 90% of TA muscle fibers.…”

Section: Experimental Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited mechanical effects of intermuscular myofascial connections within the intact rat anterior crural compartment

Tijs

Dieën

Maas

2016

Journal of Biomechanics

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a b s t r a c tSkeletal muscles of the rat anterior crural compartment are mechanically connected by epimuscular myofascial connections, but the relevance for mechanical muscle function within physiological ranges of joint motion is unclear. We evaluated the net effect at the ankle joint of epimuscular myofascial connections between tibialis anterior (TA) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles in the rat (n ¼ 8) and determined which anatomical structures may mediate such epimuscular mechanical interactions. We assessed (1) effects of knee angle (i.e. changes in EDL length and position relative to TA) and interactions of knee angle with fasciotomy and proximal EDL tenotomy on TA ankle moment and (2) the effect of knee angle on TA and EDL ankle moment summation. Knee angle was varied between 60°and 130°. Ankle angle was kept constant (90°). TA and EDL were excited individually and simultaneously (TA&EDL). The mathematical sum of individual TA and EDL moments was compared with the moment exerted by TA&EDL to assess the extent of non-additive ankle moment summation. Magnitude of TA ankle moment was not affected by knee angle, but frontal plane moment direction was. However, dissections indicated that this was not caused by the compartmental fascia or EDL length changes. Moment summation was non-additive in magnitude ( þ1.1 7 1.1% mean7 s.d.) and frontal plane direction. The latter was affected by knee angle and ranged from þ 0.27 0.3°at 60°to þ1.1 7 0.6°at 130°. As the net effects found were very limited, we conclude that myofascial connections between muscles in the anterior crural compartment have limited mechanical relevance during normal movement.

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A three-dimensional model of the rat hindlimb: Musculoskeletal geometry and muscle moment arms

Cited by 89 publications

References 25 publications

Gearing effects of the patella (knee extensor muscle sesamoid) of the helmeted guineafowl during terrestrial locomotion

Gearing effects of the patella (knee extensor muscle sesamoid) of the helmeted guineafowl during terrestrial locomotion

Muscle-specific changes in length-force characteristics of the calf muscles in the spastic Han-Wistar rat

Limited mechanical effects of intermuscular myofascial connections within the intact rat anterior crural compartment

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