PURPOSE To compare biceps femoris long-head (BFlh) fascicle lengths (Lfs) obtained with different ultrasound-based approaches: 1) single ultrasound images and linear Lf extrapolation; 2) single ultrasound images and one of two different trigonometric equations (termed equations A and B); and 3) extended field of view (EFOV) ultrasound images. METHODS Thirty-seven elite alpine skiers (21.7±2.8 yrs) without a previous history of hamstring strain injury were tested. Single ultrasound images were collected with a 5 cm linear transducer from BFlh at 50% femur length and were compared with whole muscle scans acquired by EFOV ultrasound. RESULTS The intra-session reliability (ICC3,k = intraclass correlation coefficient) of Lf measurements was very high for both single ultrasound images (i.e., Lf estimated by linear extrapolation; ICC3,k = 0.96-0.99, SEM = 0.18 cm) and EFOV scans (ICC3,k = 0.91-0.98, SEM = 0.19 cm). Although extrapolation methods showed cases of overestimation and underestimation of Lf when compared with EFOV scans, mean Lf measured from EFOV scans (8.07±1.36 cm) was significantly shorter than Lf estimated by trigonometric equations A (9.98±2.12 cm, P<0.01) and B (8.57±1.59 cm, P=0.03), but not significantly different from Lf estimated with manual linear extrapolation (MLE) (8.40±1.68 cm, p=0.13). Bland-Altman analyses revealed mean differences in Lfs obtained from EFOV scans and those estimated from equation A, equation B and MLE of 1.91±2.1 cm, 0.50±1.0 cm and 0.33±1.0 cm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The typical extrapolation methods used for estimating Lf from single ultrasound images are reliable within the same session, but not accurate for estimating BFlh Lf at rest with a 5-cm FOV. We recommend that EFOV scans are implemented to accurately determine intervention-related Lf changes in BFlh.

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Background. Muscles not only shorten during contraction to perform mechanical work, but they also bulge radially because of the isovolumetric constraint on muscle fibres. Muscle bulging may have important implications for muscle performance, however quantifying three-dimensional (3D) muscle shape changes in human muscle is problematic because of difficulties with sustaining contractions for the duration of an in vivo scan. Although two-dimensional ultrasound imaging is useful for measuring local muscle deformations, assumptions must be made about global muscle shape changes, which could lead to errors in fully understanding the mechanical behaviour of muscle and its surrounding connective tissues, such as aponeurosis. Therefore, the aims of this investigation were (a) to determine the intra-session reliability of a novel 3D ultrasound (3DUS) imaging method for measuring in vivo human muscle and aponeurosis deformations and (b) to examine how contraction intensity influences in vivo human muscle and aponeurosis strains during isometric contractions.Methods. Participants (n = 12) were seated in a reclined position with their left knee extended and ankle at 90° and performed isometric dorsiflexion contractions up to 50% of maximal voluntary contraction. 3DUS scans of the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle belly were performed during the contractions and at rest to assess muscle volume, muscle length, muscle cross-sectional area, muscle thickness and width, fascicle length and pennation angle, and central aponeurosis width and length. The 3DUS scan involved synchronous B-mode ultrasound imaging and 3D motion capture of the position and orientation of the ultrasound transducer, while successive cross-sectional slices were captured by sweeping the transducer along the muscle.Results. 3DUS was shown to be highly reliable across measures of muscle volume, muscle length, fascicle length and central aponeurosis length (ICC ≥ 0.98, CV < 1%). The TA remained isovolumetric across contraction conditions and progressively shortened along its line of action as contraction intensity increased. This caused the muscle to bulge centrally, predominantly in thickness, while muscle fascicles shortened and pennation angle increased as a function of contraction intensity. This resulted in central aponeurosis strains in both the transverse and longitudinal directions increasing with contraction intensity.Discussion. 3DUS is a reliable and viable method for quantifying multidirectional muscle and aponeurosis strains during isometric contractions within the same session. Contracting muscle fibres do work in directions along and orthogonal to the muscle’s line of action and central aponeurosis length and width appear to be a function of muscle fascicle shortening and transverse expansion of the muscle fibres, which is dependent on contraction intensity. How factors other than muscle force change the elastic mechanical behaviour of the aponeurosis requires further investigation.

The factors that drive variable aponeurosis behaviors in active versus passive muscle may alter the longitudinal stiffness of the aponeurosis during contraction, which may change the fascicle strains for a given muscle force. However, it remains unknown whether these factors can drive variable aponeurosis behaviors across different muscle-tendon unit (MTU) lengths and influence the subsequent fascicle strains during contraction. Here, we used ultrasound and elastography techniques to examine in vivo muscle fascicle behavior and central aponeurosis deformations of human tibialis anterior (TA) during force-matched voluntary isometric dorsiflexion contractions at three MTU lengths. We found that increases in TA MTU length increased both the length and apparent longitudinal stiffness of the central aponeurosis at low and moderate muscle forces ( < 0.01). We also found that increased aponeurosis stiffness was directly related to reduced magnitudes of TA muscle fascicle shortening for the same change in force ( < 0.01). The increase in slope and shift to longer overall lengths of the active aponeurosis force-length relationship as MTU length increased was likely due to a combination of parallel lengthening of aponeurosis and greater transverse aponeurosis strains. This study provides in vivo evidence that human aponeurosis stiffness is increased from low to moderate forces and that the fascicle strains for a given muscle force are MTU length dependent. Further testing is warranted to determine whether MTU length-dependent stiffness is a fundamental property of the aponeurosis in pennate muscles and evaluate whether this property can enhance muscle performance.

The force produced by a muscle depends on both the neural drive it receives and several biomechanical factors. When multiple muscles act on a single joint, the nature of the relationship between the neural drive and forcegenerating capacity of the synergistic muscles is largely unknown. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the ratio of neural drive and the ratio of muscle force-generating capacity between two synergist muscles (vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis (VM)) in humans. Twenty-one participants performed isometric knee extensions at 20 and 50% of maximal voluntary contractions (MVC). Myoelectric activity (surface electromyography (EMG)) provided an index of neural drive. Physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) was estimated from measurements of muscle volume (magnetic resonance imaging) and muscle fascicle length (threedimensional ultrasound imaging) to represent the muscles' force-generating capacities. Neither PCSA nor neural drive was balanced between VL and VM. There was a large (r ¼ 0.68) and moderate (r ¼ 0.43) correlation between the ratio of VL/VM EMG amplitude and the ratio of VL/VM PCSA at 20 and 50% of MVC, respectively. This study provides evidence that neural drive is biased by muscle force-generating capacity, the greater the force-generating capacity of VL compared with VM, the stronger bias of drive to the VL.

Understanding how humans adapt gait mechanics for a wide variety of locomotor tasks is important for inspiring the design of robotic, prosthetic and wearable assistive devices. We aimed to elicit the mechanical adjustments made to leg joint functions that are required to generate accelerative walking and running, using metrics with direct relevance to device design. Twelve healthy male participants completed constant speed (CS) walking and running and emulated acceleration (ACC) trials on an instrumented treadmill. External force and motion capture data were combined in an inverse dynamics analysis. Ankle, knee and hip joint mechanics were described and compared using angles, moments, powers and normalized functional indexes that described each joint as relatively more: spring, motor, damper or strut-like. To accelerate using a walking gait, the ankle joint was switched from predominantly spring-like to motor-like, while the hip joint was maintained as a motor, with an increase in hip motor-like function. Accelerating while running involved no change in the primary function of any leg joint, but involved high levels of spring and motor-like function at the hip and ankle joints. Mechanical adjustments for ACC walking were achieved primarily via altered limb positioning, but ACC running needed greater joint moments.

Because of the approximate linear relationship between muscle force and muscle activity, muscle forces are often estimated during maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) from torque and surface electromyography (sEMG) measurements. However, sEMG recordings from a target muscle may contain cross-talk originating from nearby muscles, which could lead to erroneous force estimates. Here we used ultrasound imaging to measure in vivo muscle fascicle length (Lf) changes and sEMG to measure muscle activity of the tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius, lateral gastrocnemius, and soleus muscles during ramp MVICs in plantar and dorsiflexion directions (n = 8). After correcting longitudinal Lf changes for ankle rotation, the antagonist Lf at peak antagonist root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude were significantly longer than the agonist Lf at this sEMG-matched level. On average, Lf shortened from resting length by 1.29 to 2.90 mm when muscles acted as agonists and lengthened from resting length by 0.43 to 1.16 mm when muscles acted as antagonists (depending on the muscle of interest). The lack of fascicle shortening when muscles acted as antagonists indicates that cocontraction was likely to be negligible, despite cocontraction as determined by sEMG of between 7 and 23% MVIC across all muscles. Different interelectrode distances (IEDs) over the plantar flexors revealed significantly higher antagonist RMS amplitudes for the 4-cm IEDs compared with the 2-cm IEDs, which further indicates that cross-talk was present. Consequently, investigators should be wary about performing agonist torque corrections for isometric plantar flexion and dorsiflexion based on the antagonist sEMG trace and predicted antagonist moment.

Aim: We investigated if residual force depression (rFD) is present during voluntary fixed-end contractions of human tibialis anterior (TA) and whether reducing TA's activation level after active shortening could reduce rFD. Methods: Ten participants performed fixed-end dorsiflexion contractions to a low, moderate or high level while electromyography (EMG), dorsiflexion force and TA ultrasound images were recorded. Contractions were force-or EMGmatched and after the low or high contraction level was attained, participants respectively increased or decreased their force/EMG to a moderate level. Participants also performed moderate level contractions while the TA muscle-tendon unit (MTU) was lengthened during the force/EMG rise to the reference MTU length. Results: Equivalent fascicle shortening over moderate and low to moderate level contractions did not alter EMG (P = 0.45) or dorsiflexion force (P = 0.47) at the moderate level. Greater initial fascicle shortening magnitudes (1.7 mm; P ≤ 0.01) to the high contraction level did not alter EMG (P = 0.45) or dorsiflexion force (P = 0.30) at the subsequent moderate level compared with moderate level contractions. TA MTU lengthening during the initial force/EMG rise reduced TA fascicle shortening (−2.5 mm; P ≤ 0.01), which reduced EMG (−3.9% MVC; P < 0.01) and increased dorsiflexion force (3.7% MVC; P < 0.01) at the moderate level compared with fixed-end moderate level contractions. Conclusion: rFD is present during fixed-end dorsiflexion contractions because fascicles actively shorten as force/EMG increases and rFD can be reduced by reducing the effective MTU compliance. A reduction in muscle activation level also reduces rFD by potentially triggering residual force enhancement-related mechanisms as force drops and some fascicles actively lengthen. K E Y W O R D Selectromyography, fascicle, fixed-end contraction, force enhancement, history dependence, isometric