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Home›Lego Tricks›Connections are key: Research sheds new light on the role of muscles and tendons

Connections are key: Research sheds new light on the role of muscles and tendons

By Theodore Criswell
March 11, 2022
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‘A’ shows the lower part of a horse’s hind limb, displaying the ‘reciprocal apparatus’, the four-bar linkage of the parallelogram or the ‘pantograph’ mechanism. “B” is an annotated sketch, while “C” represents a reduction of the connecting apparatus, highlighting the property of the parallelogram. It is actually a four bar linkage system. Image: Usherwood, https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243254

The way muscles and tendons work together to transfer weight without expending unnecessary energy has been revealed in a new study in Britain.

The results of the Royal Veterinary College research represent a significant advance in our understanding of the role of muscles and tendons, enabling different perspectives and approaches to surgery, rehabilitation and prosthetics.

Professor Jim Usherwood, in a comment just published in the Journal of Experimental Biologylooked at the biomechanics behind the athletic movement of horses in his research.

Muscles and tendons are crucial parts of human and animal anatomy, but due to their complexity, there is still much to learn about their roles.

Thinking of muscles and tendons as parts of a bicycle, muscles can be thought of as a motor, power movement, or brakes and shock absorbers, which dissipate energy, while tendons can be the transmission, acting like a bicycle chain, or springs, like tires.

While significant research has been conducted on this more traditional understanding of their functions, this study ignores these roles and instead highlights the “tricks” by which muscles and tendons help support body weight during horizontal movement while avoiding mechanical work – effectively acting as wheel and bicycle spokes.

In his study, Usherwood interpreted animal structures through the prism of classical binding mechanics, as well as considerations for muscle capabilities and limitations.

He also worked with Lego sticks and lollipops to build models that revealed the 4- and 6-bar linkages, as well as other diverse linkages at play, in locomotion, and how different muscles engage at different times. thanks to simple geometry changes.

Using these methods, the study found that when running, animals such as horses avoid a lot of unnecessary work by sliding their hips and shoulders over their feet.

Muscles, tendons and bones enable this action by forming various links where the links – which act like the spokes of a bicycle – do not change in length when loaded by body weight.

The results demonstrate how a complex muscle structure works together to support complex biomechanics, but also makes the complexity much easier to understand.

Historically, in the context of surgery, rehabilitation and prosthetics, much attention has been paid to the importance of elastic recoil in tendons. However, a better understanding of the links has the potential to better inform choices regarding surgical approaches, rehabilitation programs, and prosthetic designs.

Whereas previously the “elastic” tendons and legs were considered the key to efficient locomotion, the “sliding” and connecting aspects should now be considered more, perhaps as the dominant factor in economical locomotion. .

“It has been known for 40 years that running animals manage to ‘slide’ their bodies on their feet, and that this could be an economic trick, much like a wheel or a skate allows weight forces to be carried during movement. horizontal,” says Usherwood. .

“What was missing was how the muscles manage to do this without wasting a huge amount of energy pulling against each other.

“By spending a lot of time with a puppy, lots of Lego and a computer, I was able to identify some of the links involved – and these links have been known since the Industrial Revolution.”

In his article, Usherwood says that it would certainly be premature to suggest that the current spring paradigm of tendon function in running animals should be abandoned.

“But the linking paradigm begins to bring together observations of gross anatomy, limb mechanics, and muscle activation in fast quadrupedal mammals by linking the conditions of low mechanical work in the legs to the geometry of the low demand for work at the level of the muscles.”

Usherwood, JR (2022). Legs as links: an alternative paradigm for the role of isometric tendons and muscles in facilitating economical walking.
J Exp Biol (2022) 225 (Suppl_1): jeb243254. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243254

The study, published under a Creative Commons Licensecan be read here.

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