Modeling Muscle Mechanics (and Energetics)

This book deals with an engineering perspective of the mechanics and control of movement in animals, particularly humans. The final effectors that actually produce movement are the actuators of the neuro-musculo-skeletal control system: the skeletal muscles. In the analysis of any control system, especially one as complex as that governing movement, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the physical nature of the actuators and also tractable mathematical representations of their dynamics. A satisfactory comprehension of movement is difficult to achieve without sophisticated model simulations, which require a very heavy computational effort for even severely reduced models, and which involve complex histories of muscle activation, force, and motion beyond the range of experience in simple laboratory experiments. Of the many predictions in a simulation of movement only a few are accessible to direct experimental verification; for example, limb positions, surface electromyograms (EMGs), and joint torques.