Muscle Force

Production, Injury & Aging

Dr. Katelyn Wood, PhD
katelyn.wood@uwo.ca
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson you will be able to…

• Describe 3 types of muscle contractions and give an example of each

• Understand factors which determine muscle force generation

• Understand injuries that can occur within muscles, and implications for function

• Explain the influence of aging on muscle structure and function

Review
Last Module:
1. 3 types of muscle
• Skeletal, Cardiac + Smooth

2. Muscle Organization
• Layers of connective tissue surrounding muscle cells
• Think + thin filaments make up sarcomeres fundamental unit of contraction within the
muscle
- tendons are
just a continuation of the connective tissue in the absence of muscle cells

3. Muscle Function + Properties

• 3 fibre types (I, IIa, IIx) slow oxidative, to fast glycolytic
- These types of fibers
have different capabilities in terms of force production, how quickly they fatigue and their distribution
throughout muscle cells
 Last Module:
4. Contraction
• Requires ATP + Ca2+
• Sliding Filament Theory

5. Motor Unit = Motor neuron +

innervated myofibrils
• Each muscle contains
multiple motor units
- ATP is necessary for myosin to bind to actin and to undergo the power stroke
- calcium is required for the myosin binding sites on actin to be revealed
- you can spend time recruiting just maybe one or two units, depending upon how
much force you want to generate
Force Production
 Factors Influencing Force Generation

1. Force-Length 2. Force-Velocity 3. Moment Arm at 4. Physiological

Relationship Relationship which the Muscle is Cross-Sectional
Acting Area
# of fibers or sarcomeres engaged + how they’re acting on the joint = how forces are generated
- more fibers or sacromeres engaged = greater force
- the way they interact with the joint are going to determine exactly what that force is like

# of fibers/sarcomeres engaged + how they’re acting on the joint

 depending on the angle of

1. Force-Length Relationship
the joint and the length of
the muscle, you are going
to be able to produce more
or less force

• Sliding filament sarcomere structure has implications for muscle

force production

• When a muscle is maximally activated, the isometric force that is

produced is dependent upon muscle length - isometric means that the muscle is not actually
changing length

- the proximity of myosin to actin and the number of sites on actin that myosin can bind will determine the amount of force that can be produced
- this changes as a function of the length of the muscle
- when a muscle is maximally activated (when you contract it as hard as you can), the isometric force that’s produced is dependent upon muscle length
1. Force-Length Relationship
Z M Z 2
1 3

Force
Length

1. Ascending Limb: sarcomere shortened, mechanism for reduced force unknown

- when the muscle is really short
- huge overlap between myosin and actin
- don’t really know why this occurs; hypothesis —> could be a misalignment of the myosin heads and the binding site on actin
- when you muscle is super super short, you can’t generate a lot of force
1. Force-Length Relationship

1. Ascending Limb: sarcomere shortened, mechanism for reduced force unknown

2. Plateau: optimal overlap of actin/myosin = maximal cross bridges = maximal force
- plateau region —> optimal overlap of actin and myosin
- every myosin head can engage with a binding site on actin
- you get maximal cross bridges and maximal force
- occurs somewhere around 90 degrees of the joint in the arm
1. Force-Length Relationship

1. Ascending Limb: sarcomere shortened, mechanism for reduced force unknown

2. Plateau: optimal overlap of actin/myosin = maximal cross bridges = maximal force
3. Descending Limb: as length increases, fewer actin sites overlap myosin
- as you start to lengthen, there are fewer sites overlapping between myosin and actin
- get less and less force production
One more thing…
Passive Muscle Stretch Matters
• Degree of muscle activation (#
of active sarcomeres)
determines force produced
but…

• Just stretching a muscle will

generate a “passive force” at
longer muscle lengths as - the number of active

connective tissue (e.g.

sacromeres determines force
produce
perimesium) attempts to recoil - more active fibers = more
force
- when you stretch out the connective tissue, it starts to kind of
resist that stretching and when able, will recoil (purple line)
• Called “parallel elastic Fig 1. Active and passive force length curves
component” - when you add active force of muscle and the passive force of the connective tissue together, you’re
able to produce a little bit more force at greater muscle lengths —> red line; important for biomechanics
 2. Force-Velocity Relationship
• Force produced by muscle depends upon the velocity of
the contraction
- negative force = muscle lengthening
- positive force = muscle contracting
- isometric = not moving
Isometric: High force,
- high amount of force, zero velocity —> trying to lift something that’s too heavy off the
ground
velocity = 0
- concentric —> able to actually contract the muscle; you are stronger than the object
that you are trying to lift and are able to lift it up
- as velocity increase, the force decreases

Concentric: ↑velocity =↓force

- cross bridges can only go so fast
- eccentric contractions —> poorly understood in terms of the force that they are able to
produce; you are ableCross
to produce bridges canto only
a lot of force resist it;go
yourso fast amount of force,
maximal
but you’re resisting then not actually kind of moving the force

Eccentric: poorly understood

muscle lengthening muscle shortening
Types of Muscle Contractions
 Torque =
3. Moment arm at Force X Moment Arm
which a muscle is axis at the orange circle
- the line of action of a force is the red line and it
changes based on muscle shape

acting
variety of different shapes of muscles throughout
the body
- allows muscles inherently to pull at different
angles
- it also changes based on the degree of flexion
that a joint is in

• Moment arm = perpendicular distance

from an axis to the line of action of a
force
• Changes depending upon angle of
insertion - rotation doesn’t necessarily happen but it’s a
force about the tendency for that rotation,
equals the amount of force that’s produced by
• Muscle shape the muscle times the moment arm
- we can assume that muscle force is kind of

• Degree of Flexion
capped, it can only produce so much force, but
we can change the angle at which it acts
- lever arm —> bone changing the moment arm
- muscle is pulling on that bone at a certain angle - the moment arm is perpendicular distance
- moment arm is the right angle between the axis of rotation (orange from an axis to the line of action of a force
circle)
- the angle at which the muscle is pulling
- when you change that angle, you change the moment arm and torque,
which is the tendency for an object to want to rotate
3. Moment arm at 1

which a muscle is
2
3

acting
- the muscle pulling at less of an angle = shorter moment arm

4
- pulling at a greater angle = greater moment arm
- rotation is going to be around the elbow
- as you start to lengthen or
shorten the muscle, so shorten, then lengthen, the moment arm, that yellow line is
going to change
- yellow line: moment arm of different lengths 5
- if you pull with
exactly the same amount of force through your arm flexors there, you're going to
produce different
amounts of force, because torque is equal to the force produced by the muscle times
the moment arm
- greatest around 90 degrees

1 2 3 4 5
 Biceps Brachii

3. Moment arm at
Brachialis
Brachioradialis
Avg Weighted

which a muscle is
acting *alters angle of insertion
- biceps brachii,
brachialis, and brachioradialis.
- their moment arms are slightly
different because they attach at
different places in the arm and forearm
- means that there is a different Biceps Brachii
amount of torque being produced Brachialis
based on the angle of the elbow
Brachioradialis
- moment arm can also be changed by
Sum Moment

Torque (N/cm)
the girth of muscle
- if you see hypertrophy (kind of a
bulking of the muscle) because you
are getting stronger, that’s going to
change the moment arm because you
have more muscle activated
- see more strength because you’re
changing the moment arm at which
these muscles are acting on the joint

Angle (deg)
 Muscle Shape + Pennation Anatomical Cross-Sectional Area

4. Physiologic Cross-
Sectional Area (PCSA)

• Muscle strength is directly

proportional to the cross-sectional
area of a muscle 1:1 ratio

• Reflection of the number of

functioning sarcomeres, working in
parallel with each other

• Increases with pennation angle

- pennation —> the angle at which muscle fibers all connect in
blue —> diameter of the muscle
together into the tendon
- as we change the pennation, the orientation of
- multiple pennations in some muscles like the deltoid whereas a
the fibers (red lines), we can increase the
single pennation in muscles like flexor pollicis longus
amount of force that’s produced
- flexor pollicis longus —> flexes you thumb, whereas the deltoid
A = unipennate muscle
moves the shoulder
B = bipennate
- deltoid is going to be able to produce more force because of the
C = multipennate
way the fibers are arranged
 4. Physiologic Cross-
Sectional Area (PCSA)

• Muscle strength is directly

proportional to the cross-sectional
area of a muscle

• Reflection of the number of

functioning sarcomeres, working in
parallel with each other

• Increases with pennation angle

- if you have a larger physiological cross-sectional area
that is going to allow you to produce more force with the
same amount of activation
- more cross-sectional area, specifically physiological Force = PCSA * muscle activation
cross-sectional area, more force.
 Factors Influencing Force Generation

1. Force-Length 2. Force-Velocity 3. Moment Arm at 4. Physiological

Relationship Relationship which the Muscle is Cross-Sectional
Acting Area

# of fibers/sarcomeres engaged + how they’re acting on the joint

Muscle Injury, Aging &
Exercise
 Strain
Grade 2 - partial tear —>
it’ll still contract and kind
of dance under the skin,
but not actually going to
Tendon/Muscle Injury be able to contract and
change the joint angle

• Grading:
• Grade 1 = Over-stretching
• Grade 2 = Partial Tear
• Grade 3 = Complete Tear

• Symptoms:
• Swelling/bruising or redness - force depends on
• Pain at rest muscle fibers are highly innervated the muscle actually
being able to transmit
• Inability to use muscle, or weakness the force to bone; if
the muscle is cut in
half, you’re no longer
• First Aid: Protection, Rest, Ice, Compression, able to transmit that
Elevation (PRICE) force all the way
through to bone
 - if still under 30, you are still reaching your peak - in the aged person, more of those
- over 30 starting to decline already kind of white areas, so we can see the bone
- muscle mass is gradually replaced by fibrous connective tissue and adipose (fat)

Aging + Muscle
which is those white circles outlined in black,
but within the
muscle itself, that darkish gray area, you see
more white splotches, and that's fat and
connective tissue.

• Progressive muscle loss with aging, from 30

onwards

• Muscle mass replaced by fibrous connective

tissue + adipose - causes of decreased abilityof ofwhich
muscles to contract an aging are many, one
is decreased
voluntary neural control of the muscle, so you can lose motor neurons and
you can get decreased sensory
feedback
• Causes: - slower nerve conduction speeds
- takes longer to be able to initiate a contraction

• Decreased voluntary neural control of muscle

(motor neuron loss + decreased sensory
feedback)
• Slower nerve conduction speed
• Muscle fibre loss (particularly type II = more
oxidative metabolism, less force) type II muscle fibers —> more
oxidative fibers and they are
the ones that produce a lot of
force

• Overall: less power & strength - you are able to do less

ballistic high force movements
= smaller muscles and less
strength
Exercise + Muscle
• Exercise is effective to improve muscle mass at any age!

• Aerobic + Strength-based activities are effective at both slowing,

and even reversing age-related muscular decline

• Benefits:
• Increased bone density —> when youremodels
since you are stressing the bone
stress the bone it

• Increased motor neuron firing rate

• Hypertrophy of muscle fibers (↑ size)
To Summarize…
• 3 types of muscle contraction: concentric, isometric, eccentric
• Muscle force generation is determined by # of actin/myosin fibers
binding + how they act on the joint:
• Force-length relationship
• Force-velocity relationship
• Moment arm that a muscle acts at
• Physiological Cross-sectional area of muscle

• Muscle Strength & Size decrease in age

• Exercise improves muscle force and function
 ©

katelyn.wood@uwo.ca