ArticleJournal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985)2014
Absence of lateral gastrocnemius activity and differential motor unit behavior in soleus and medial gastrocnemius during standing balance.
Article in Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Adaptation of Muscles With Different Physiological Properties to Resistance Training With and Without Bloodflow Restriction.Sports health · 2026Article
- Independent directional tuning of the human triceps surae muscles during standing postural control.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2026Article
- Morphology and control roles in perturbed standing recovery: a robotic study.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2026Article
- Learning to stand with delays alters sensorimotor control but does not cause instability when returning to natural balance.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Neuromuscular Activity Determines, at Least in Part, the Motoneuron, Nerve and Muscle Properties Under Normal Conditions and After Nerve Injury.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Effects of Clenching Strength on Step Reaction Time.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Modulation of individual and synchronized activities of ankle plantarflexors during quiet standing in aroused emotions.Experimental brain research · 2025Article
- Postural control of sway dynamics on an unstable surface reduces similarity in activation patterns of synergistic lower leg muscles.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Implications of variability in triceps surae muscle volumes on peak lower limb muscle forces during human walking.PloS one · 2025Article
- The neuromechanics of the soleus for fall prevention in aging.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Review
- Gastrocnemius Neuromuscular Activation During Standing Explosive Acceleration.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Achilles tendon morpho-mechanical parameters are related to triceps surae motor unit firing properties.Journal of neurophysiology · 2024Article
- Learning to stand with sensorimotor delays generalizes across directions and from hand to leg effectors.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Ankle Torque Estimation With Motor Unit Discharges in Residual Muscles Following Lower-Limb Amputation.IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society · 2023Article
- Kinematics and muscle activity of the lower limb during single-leg stance on the two sides of the Togu Jumper.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Modulation of lower limb muscles and trajectory correction in the bipedal stance during visual perturbation.PeerJ · 2023Article
- Estimation of the firing behaviour of a complete motoneuron pool by combining electromyography signal decomposition and realistic motoneuron modelling.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In a standing position, the vertical projection of the center of mass passes in front of the ankle, which requires active plantar-flexor torque from the triceps surae to maintain balance. We recorded motor unit (MU) activity in the medial (MG) and lateral (LG) gastrocnemius muscle and the soleus (SOL) in standing balance and voluntary isometric contractions to understand the effect of functional requirements and descending drive from different neural sources on motoneuron behavior. Single MU activity was recorded in seven subjects with wire electrodes in the triceps surae. Two 3-min standing balance trials and several ramp-and-hold contractions were performed. Lateral gastrocnemius MU activity was rarely observed in standing. The lowest thresholds for LG MUs in ramp contractions were 20-35 times higher than SOL and MG MUs (P < 0.001). Compared with MUs from the SOL, MG MUs were intermittently active (P < 0.001), had higher recruitment thresholds (P = 0.022), and greater firing rate variability (P < 0.001); this difference in firing rate variability was present in standing balance and isometric contractions. In SOL and MG MUs, both recruitment of new MUs (R(2) = 0.59-0.79, P < 0.01) and MU firing rates (R(2) = 0.05-0.40, P < 0.05) were associated with anterior-posterior and medio-lateral torque in standing. Our results suggest that the two heads of the gastrocnemius may operate in different ankle ranges with the larger MG being of primary importance when standing, likely due to its fascicle orientation. These differences in MU discharge behavior were independent of the type of descending neural drive, which points to a muscle-specific optimization of triceps surae motoneurons.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.