ArticleScientific reports2019
Adaptation of muscle activation after patellar loading demonstrates neural control of joint variables.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fatigue-induced changes in VMO-VL EMG correlation in individuals with patellofemoral pain.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Relationship between muscle activation and sagittal knee joint biomechanics in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome: a cross-sectional study.Knee surgery & related research · 2025Article
- Kinematics but not kinetics alterations to single-leg drop jump movements following a subject-tailored fatiguing protocol suggest an increased risk of ACL injury.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Neuromechanical Properties of the Vastus Medialis and Vastus Lateralis in Adolescents With Patellofemoral Pain.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2023Article
- The Forces Generated by Agonist Muscles during Isometric Contractions Arise from Motor Unit Synergies.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Inhibition of knee joint sensory afferents alters covariation across strides between quadriceps muscles during locomotion.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- Mechanical disturbances applied by motorized ankle foot orthosis to adapt ankle muscles activation-A validation study.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2023Article
- Neuromuscular control: from a biomechanist's perspective.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2023Review
- Muscle synergies analysis shows altered neural strategies in women with patellofemoral pain during walking.PloS one · 2023Article
- Evidence for constancy in the modularity of trunk muscle activity preceding reaching: implications for the role of preparatory postural activity.Journal of neurophysiology · 2021Article
- The Effects of Mechanical Scale on Neural Control and the Regulation of Joint Stability.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Coordination amongst quadriceps muscles suggests neural regulation of internal joint stresses, not simplification of task performance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- Rehabilitation Effects of Fatigue-Controlled Treadmill Training After Stroke: A Rat Model Study.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
We evaluated whether the central nervous system (CNS) chooses muscle activations not only to achieve behavioral goals but also to minimize stresses and strains within joints. We analyzed the coordination between quadriceps muscles during locomotion in rats before and after imposing a lateral force on the patella. Vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis (VM) in the rat produce identical knee torques but opposing mediolateral patellar forces. If the CNS regulates internal joint stresses, we predicted that after imposing a lateral patellar load by attaching a spring between the patella and lateral femur, the CNS would reduce the ratio between VL and VM activation to minimize net mediolateral patellar forces. Our results confirmed this prediction, showing that VL activation was reduced after attaching the spring whereas VM and rectus femoris (RF) activations were not significantly changed. This adaptation was reversed after the spring was detached. These changes were not observed immediately after attaching the spring but only developed after 3-5 days, suggesting that they reflected gradual processes rather than immediate compensatory reflexes. Overall, these results support the hypothesis that the CNS chooses muscle activations to regulate internal joint variables.
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