Threshold variations of medial pterygoid single motor units during vertical or horizontal force tasks

Abstract

Mandibular movements traverse complex three-dimensional trajectories. An understanding of how these movements are generated by the mandibular muscles is important in understanding mandibular function and dysfunction. The medial pterygoid muscle is a deep jaw muscle that, despite its importance, has had little investigation, 1 in contrast with the greater attention given to the more superficial jaw muscles. 2,3 The multi-pennate muscle fibre arrangement of the medial pterygoid muscle, together with its distributed insertion over the medial surface of the mandibular ramus, makes it an ideal muscle to