Empirical evaluation of gastrocnemius and soleus function during walking

Abstract

Distinguishing gastrocnemius and soleus muscle function is relevant for treating gait disorders in which abnormal plantarflexor activity may contribute to pathological movement patterns. Our objective was to use experimental and computational analysis to determine the influence of gastrocnemius and soleus activity on lower limb movement, and determine if anatomical variability of the gastrocnemius affected its function. Our hypothesis was that these muscles exhibit distinct functions, with the gastrocnemius inducing limb flexion and the soleus inducing limb extension. To test this hypothesis, the gastrocnemius or soleus of twenty healthy participants was electrically stimulated for brief periods (90 ms) during mid-or terminal stance of a random gait cycle. Muscle function was characterized by the induced change in sagittal pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle angles occurring during the 200 ms after stimulation onset. Results were corroborated with computational forward dynamic gait models, by perturbing gastrocnemius or soleus activity during similar portions of the gait cycle. Mid- and terminal stance gastrocnemius stimulation induced posterior pelvic tilt, hip flexion and knee flexion. Mid-stance gastrocnemius stimulation also induced ankle dorsiflexion. In contrast, mid-stance soleus stimulation induced anterior pelvic tilt, knee extension and plantarflexion, while late-stance soleus stimulation induced relatively little change in motion. Model predictions of induced hip, knee, and ankle motion were generally in the same direction as the experiments, though the gastrocnemius’ results were shown to be quite sensitive to its knee-to-ankle moment arm ratio.

Muscle morphology of the lower leg in ambulant children with spastic cerebral palsy

“…As mentioned earlier, the soleus is a key muscle involved in postural stability, control, and locomotion, and therefore the relative role of soleus may be even more pronounced in children with smaller and short gastrocnemii. 30 Further investigation is required to determine the time course of typical muscle growth and development, and whether the proportional distribution of individual muscles of the triceps changes with age, activity, neural innervation, and/or immobilization.…”

Safety and Efficacy of Selective Neurectomy of the Gastrocnemius Muscle for Calf Reduction in 300 Cases

“…The soleus participates in posture and the gastrocnemius in locomotion [19]. The gastrocnemius muscle is a flexor of both the knee and ankle joints, while the soleus is a plantar flexor of the ankle joint.…”

“…In addition, as a fast muscle, the gastrocnemius muscle participates mainly in activities such as walking, running, and jumping, while the soleus, as a slow muscle, is involved with steadying the leg on the foot during standing. The loss of the gastrocnemius muscle has no or minimal influence on leg function [19,20]. In addition, Kim et al [7] and Lee et al [6] reported that resection of the gastrocnemius muscle for cosmetic reasons had little effect on the function of the lower legs.…”

A Novel Wearable Foot and Ankle Monitoring System for the Assessment of Gait Biomechanics

“…The research of Qaqish et al, among others, studied the tibialis anterior during gait, investigating the muscular activity during the stance phase [18]. Lenhart et al [19] and Orendurff et al [20], among others, have studied the Gastrocnemius during gait.…”