CHAPTER 4:

BIOMECHANICS of
HUMAN SKELETAL
MUSCLE(I)

Picture from MisterBisson Flickr pages

At the end of this course, you
will be able to:
• Identify the basic behavioural properties
of the musculotendinous unit.
• The relationships of fiber types and fiber
architecture to muscle function.
• Explain how skeletal muscles function to
produce coordinated movement of the
human body
Muscle Tissue
Behavioral Properties

Extensibility
Elasticity
Irritability
Ability to develop tension
Extensibility & Elasticity

What is extensibility?
 Ability to stretch or to increase in length

How about elasticity?

 Ability to return to normal length after stretch

Figure from http://www.flashplayer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20485

 Elastic Behaviour

1. Parallel elastic component (PEC)

 Muscle membrane
 Supply resistance when muscle is passively stretched
2. Series elastic component (SEC)
 Tendons
 Act as spring to store elastic energy
3. Contractile component (CC)
 Muscle property enabling tension by stimulated
muscle fibers
Muscle Elastic
Behavior Model
Muscle Tissue
Behavioral Properties

Irritability
 ability to respond to a stimulus

Ability to develop tension

 the contractile component of muscle
function
Structural Organization of
Skeletal Muscle

What is a muscle fiber?

 Because of threadlike shape
 single muscle cell surrounded by a
membrane called the sarcolemma
and containing specialized
cytoplasm called sarcoplasm
Skeletal Muscle

Silverthorn, Human Physiology,

Benjamin-Cummings, ISBN 0-
321-22687-9, Fig. 12-3, p. 392
Skeletal muscle

Silverthorn, Human Physiology,

Benjamin-Cummings, ISBN 0-
321-22687-9, Fig. 12-1a, p. 390
Image taken from
http://courses.cm.utexas.edu/jrobertus/ch339k/overheads-1.htm
Muscle fibers

 some fibers run the entire length of a muscle;

others are shorter
 skeletal muscle fibers grow in both length
and diameter from birth through adulthood
 fiber diameter can be increased through
resistance training
Muscle Fiber (cont’d)
Muscle Fiber (cont’d)
Muscle Fiber (cont’d)
Motor unit

 single motor neuron and all fibers it

innervates (stimulate through nerves)
 considered the functional unit of the
neuromuscular system

There are 2 types

 Fast twitch (FT)
 Slow twitch (ST)
Structural Organization of
Skeletal Muscle

Fast twitch (FT) fibers FT ST

both reach peak
tension and relax

Twitch Tension
more quickly than
slow twitch (ST)
fibers.
Peak tension is
typically greater for
FT than for ST fibers. Time
Skeletal Muscle Fiber
Characteristics
TYPE IIA
Type I Fast-Twitch Type IIB
Slow-Twitch Oxidative Fast-Twitch
Oxidative Glycolytic Glycolytic
CHARACTERISTIC (SO) (FOG) (FG)
Contraction Speed slow fast fast
Fatigue rate slow intermediate fast
Diameter small intermediate large
ATPase concentration low high high
Mitochondrial high high low
concentration
Glycolytic enzyme low intermediate high
concentration
Fiber architecture

There are 2 types of fiber architecture

 parallel fiber arrangement
 fibers are roughly parallel to the longitudinal axis of
the muscle
 example: sartorius, rectus abdominis, biseps brachii

 pennate fiber arrangement

 short fibers attach to one or more tendons within the
muscle
 example: tibialis posterior, rectus femoris, deltoid
Fiber architecture (cont’d)

 parallel fiber arrangement

 Muscle become shorten due to fiber shortening
 pennate fiber arrangement
 When muscle shorten, they rotate about their
tendon attachment
 This will increase the angle of pennation
 Greater angle of pennation will induced smaller
amount of effective force
Sample Problem 1

Ft How much force is

α exerted by tendon of
Ff
pennate muscle when
tension in fiber is 100
N, given that the angle
of pennation is 60
degree.
Solution

Ft = 100 cos 60
Ft

α = 100 (0.5)
Ff = 50 N