Force-sharing between cat soleus and gastrocnemius muscles during walking: explanations based on electrical activity, properties, and kinematics

Abstract

Studying force sharing between synergistic muscles can be useful for understanding the functional significance of musculoskeletal redundancy and the mechanisms underlying the control of synergistic muscles. The purpose of this study was to quantify and explain force sharing between cat soleus (SO) and gastrocnemius (GA) muscles, and changes in force sharing, as a function of integrated electrical activity (IEMG), contractile and mechanical properties, and kinematics of the muscles for a variety of locomotor conditions. Forces in SO and GA were measured using standard tendon force transducers of the 'buckle' type, and EMGs were recorded using bipolar, indwelling fine wire electrodes. Muscle tendon and fiber lengths, as well as the corresponding velocities, were derived from the hindlimb kinematics, anthropometric measurements, and a muscle model. In order to describe force- and IEMG-sharing between SO and GA, SO force vs GA force and SO IEMG vs GA IEMG plots were constructed. Force- and IEMG-sharing curves had a loop-like shape. Direction of formation of the loop was typically counterclockwise for forces and clockwise for IEMG; that is, forces of GA reached the maximum and then decreased faster relative to forces of SO, and IEMG of SO reached the maximum and then decreased faster relative to IEMG of GA. With increasing speeds of locomotion, the width of the force-sharing loops tended to decrease, and the width of the IEMG-sharing loops increased. Peak forces in GA muscle and peak IEMGs in SO and GA muscles tended to increase with increasing speeds of locomotion, whereas peak SO forces remained nearly constant for all activities. Because of these changes in the peak forces and IEMGs of SO and GA, the slope of the force-sharing loop decreased, and the slope of the IEMG-sharing loop did not change significantly with increasing speeds of locomotion. Length changes and velocities of SO and GA increased with the speed of locomotion and were similar in absolute magnitude for both muscles at a given speed. However, SO tended to work consistently closer than GA to the optimal length for all activities. The normalized velocities of elongation and shortening of SO fibers were consistently larger than those of GA, and the differences in these velocities increased as the speed of locomotion increased.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)