Workloop energetics of antagonist muscles

Abstract

The capability of muscle to produce mechanical work under periodic motions has been traditionally estimated using the workloop technique. We extend this method by allowing a pair of antagonist muscles to interact against a common load with non-zero admittance. We present an experimental approach to measuring the work done by a two-muscle system and show preliminary data. A complimentary problem is to maximize the work produced by the muscle pair in this setting. We formulate this problem in an optimal control framework. We derive conditions for the optimal activation of muscles to produce the maximum work, and show computed solutions.