Muscle force loss and soreness subsequent to maximal eccentric contractions depend on the amount of fascicle strain in vivo

Abstract

This study demonstrates that the strain applied to human muscle fibres during eccentric contractions strongly influences the magnitude of muscle damage in vivo. Achilles tendon compliance decreases the amount of strain, while architectural gear ratio may moderately contribute to attenuating muscle fascicle lengthening and hence muscle damage. Further studies are necessary to explore the impact of various types of task to fully understand the contribution of muscle-tendon interactions during active lengthening to muscle damage.

Shear-Wave Elastography Assessments of Quadriceps Stiffness Changes prior to, during and after Prolonged Exercise: A Longitudinal Study during an Extreme Mountain Ultra-Marathon

“…A few studies have explored the ability of SWE to evaluate the physiological responses of resting muscles (i.e., muscles that are not contracting or stretching during measurement) to short-term active or passive muscular solicitation [21,22] using eccentric injury models and plantar flexor [23,24] or elbow flexor eccentric contraction models [25]. Green et al [23] explored the effects of downward running on a treadmill on the plantar flexor muscles under experimental conditions using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE).…”

Muscle fascicle shortening behaviour of vastus lateralis during a maximal force–velocity test

“…These interactions have been well described in animal (Astley and Roberts 2012;Biewener and Baudinette 1995;Wilson et al 2003) and human locomotion (e.g., walking and running; Cronin and Lichtwark 2013;Fukunaga et al 2001;Ishikawa et al 2007;Lichtwark et al 2007). During exercises involving stretch-shortening cycles, these interactions have been demonstrated to enhance the work produced by the muscle-tendon unit (Ishikawa and Komi 2004;Kawakami et al 2002;Finni et al 2001), to improve the efficiency (Lichtwark and Barclay 2010) and to reduce muscle fibre elongation during the eccentric phase, thereby limiting the risk of strain induced injury (Guilhem et al 2016;Konow et al 2012).…”

Shear-Wave Elastography: Basic Physics and Musculoskeletal Applications

“…During the past few years, several studies have been published on SWE of human tendons (5-17) and muscles (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), with promising results. The majority of these studies are experimental (5,6,(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)27,29,(31)(32)(33) with a smaller number of clinical studies (7,8,15,26,28,30,34,35).…”

“…The majority of these studies are experimental (5,6,(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)27,29,(31)(32)(33) with a smaller number of clinical studies (7,8,15,26,28,30,34,35). Additionally, several studies evaluated viscoelastic properties of the Achilles tendon (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”

“…Promising results have been published in the recent literature on the utility of SWE in the evaluation of several traumatic and pathologic conditions of various musculoskeletal soft tissues, including tendons (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17), muscles (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29), nerves (30)(31)(32), and ligaments (33)(34)(35).…”