ArticleEuropean journal of applied physiology2022
The effect of small changes in rate of force development on muscle fascicle velocity and motor unit discharge behaviour.
Article in European journal of applied physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of repeated sprint training on repeated sprint ability and short-distance sprint performance in youth soccer players: a meta-analysis.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Age-related differences in proactive and reactive neuromechanics throughout the time course of walking balance perturbations.Journal of neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Fascicle lengthening during a large torque reduction subsequently decreases dorsiflexion torque steadiness.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Integrated Mechanical and Cardiopulmonary Adaptations During Repeated Jumps in Volleyball Players: Insights from CPET Analysis.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Motor unit behavior of lumbar multifidus during a forward trunk bending task performed under different speeds and loads in asymptomatic participants.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Characterization of motor unit activities during isometric elbow flexion with different speeds.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Hamstring Injury Mechanisms and Eccentric Training-Induced Muscle Adaptations: Current Insights and Future Directions.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Review
- Using physiologically based models to predict in vivo skeletal muscle energetics.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Anticipation augments distal leg muscle neuromechanics before, during, and after treadmill-induced perturbations applied during walking.Journal of biomechanics · 2025Article
- Motor unit firing rates during slow and fast contractions in boys and men.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Article
- Rate of force development relationships to muscle architecture and contractile behavior in the human vastus lateralis.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Biomechanics of the lead straight punch and related indexes between sanda fighters and boxers from the perspective of cross-border talent transfer.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Biomechanics of the lead straight punch of different level boxers.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
When rate of force development is increased, neural drive increases. There is presently no accepted explanation for this effect. We propose and experimentally test the theory that a small increase in rate of force development increases medial gastrocnemius fascicle shortening velocity, reducing the muscle's force-generating capacity, leading to active motor units being recruited at lower forces and with increased discharge frequencies. Participants produced plantar flexion torques at three different rates of force development (slow: 2% MVC/s, medium: 10% MVC/s, fast: 20% MVC/s). Ultrasound imaging showed that increased rate of force development was related to higher fascicle shortening velocity (0.4 ± 0.2 mm/s, 2.0 ± 0.9 mm/s, 4.1 ± 1.9 mm/s in slow, medium, fast, respectively). In separate experiments, medial gastrocnemius motor unit recruitment thresholds and discharge frequencies were measured using fine-wire electromyography (EMG), together with surface EMG. Recruitment thresholds were lower in the fast (12.8 ± 9.2% MVC) and medium (14.5 ± 9.9% MVC) conditions compared to the slow (18.2 ± 8.9% MVC) condition. The initial discharge frequency was lower in the slow (5.8 ± 3.1 Hz) than the fast (6.7 ± 1.4 Hz), but not than the medium (6.4 ± 2.4 Hz) condition. The surface EMG was greater in the fast (mean RMS: 0.029 ± 0.017 mV) compared to the slow condition (0.019 ± 0.013 mV). We propose that the increase in muscle fascicle shortening velocity reduces the force-generating capacity of the muscle, therefore requiring greater neural drive to generate the same forces.
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