Maas Huub, Jaspers Richard T, Baan Guus C, Huijing Peter A
Instituut voor Fundamentele en Klinische Bewegingswetenschappen, Faculteit Bewegingswetenschappen, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Appl Physiol (1985). 2003 Nov;95(5):2004-13. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00220.2003. Epub 2003 Jul 3.
Force transmission from muscle fibers via the connective tissue network (i.e., myofascial force transmission) is an important determinant of muscle function. This study investigates the role of myofascial pathways for force transmission from multitendoned extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle within an intact anterior crural compartment. Effects of length changes exclusively of head III of rat EDL muscle (EDL III) on myofascial force transmission were assessed. EDL III was lengthened at the distal tendon. For different lengths of EDL III, isometric forces were measured at the distal tendon of EDL III, as well as at the proximal tendon of whole EDL and at the distal tendons of tibialis anterior and extensor hallucis longus (TA+EHL) muscles. Lengthening of EDL III caused high changes in force exerted at the distal tendon of EDL III (from 0 to 1.03 +/- 0.07 N). In contrast, only minor changes were found in force exerted at the proximal EDL tendon (from 2.37 +/- 0.09 to 2.53 +/- 0.10 N). Increasing the length of EDL III decreased TA+EHL force significantly (by 7%, i.e., from 5.62 +/- 0.27 to 5.22 +/- 0.32 N). These results show that force is transmitted between EDL III and adjacent tissues via myofascial pathways. Optimal force exerted at the distal tendon of EDL III (1.03 +/- 0.07 N) was more than twice the force expected on the basis of the physiological cross-sectional area of EDL III muscle fibers (0.42 N). Therefore, a substantial fraction of this force must originate from sources other than EDL III. It is concluded that myofascial pathways play an important role in force transmission from multitendoned muscles.
肌肉纤维通过结缔组织网络进行的力传递（即肌筋膜力传递）是肌肉功能的一个重要决定因素。本研究调查了完整小腿前侧肌室内多腱的趾长伸肌（EDL）肌筋膜通路在力传递中的作用。评估了仅大鼠EDL肌头部III（EDL III）长度变化对肌筋膜力传递的影响。在远端肌腱处延长EDL III。对于不同长度的EDL III，在EDL III的远端肌腱、整个EDL的近端肌腱以及胫骨前肌和拇长伸肌（TA+EHL）的远端肌腱处测量等长力。EDL III的延长导致EDL III远端肌腱处施加的力发生很大变化（从0到1.03±0.07 N）。相比之下，在EDL近端肌腱处施加的力仅发现微小变化（从2.37±0.09到2.53±0.10 N）。增加EDL III的长度会使TA+EHL力显著降低（降低7%，即从5.62±0.27到5.22±0.32 N）。这些结果表明，力通过肌筋膜通路在EDL III和相邻组织之间传递。在EDL III远端肌腱处施加的最佳力（1.03±0.07 N）是基于EDL III肌纤维生理横截面积预期力（0.42 N）的两倍多。因此，该力的很大一部分必定源自EDL III以外的来源。得出的结论是，肌筋膜通路在多腱肌肉的力传递中起重要作用。
