Week 13, Day 1:

Caveats in Modeling
Relate maximum isometric muscle force (F0 or P0) to:
- Muscle volume (MV)
- Optimal fiber length (L)
- Pennation angle (phi)
- Specific tension (ST)

PCSA = ?
P0 = ?
 Outline for today
• Test recap and stats • Torque estimation
• Homework recap • Moment arm
• Methods of calculation
• Differences wrt body positioning
• Purpose • Fatigue
• Caveats in modeling
• P0 estimation
• Remaining caveats must be discussed
• ST
after covering strength prediction,
• PCSA
optimization, and EMG analysis.
• Force estimation
• FV curve
• FL curve
• Excitation-contraction dynamics
• More elaborate variables
Test statistics
• Mean: 14.8 (74.0%); • Q1 – great
• Q2 – needed specific direction of rotation
StDev = 3.00
• Q3 – Moments were wrong for most
• Q1: 87.8% • 24%, 16%, 14%
• Q2: 83.5% • Q4 – Even if answers were wrong,
showing impulse equations is necessary
• Q3: 69.2%
• Q5 – disc herniation as a result of
• Q4: 64.6% compression during flexion, high moment
• Q5: 82.4% leads to more compression.

Grades will be uploaded

Full answer key + code posted.
today and tomorrow Please verify that grading was done correctly.
Let me know if any errors were made!
Homework review
• Kinematics – position, orientation, movement
• Examples?
• Kinetics – forces, “loads”, pressure
• Examples?

• Rock climbing example

• Experiment protocol
• Kinematic capture
• Measured metric for comparison
• Kinetic capture
• Measured metric for comparison
• Diving example
Purpose
• Understand how biomechanists model muscle physiology using
mathematics and mechanics to be able to predict internal loading

• Understand the potential pitfalls or limitations of the common

methods and their physiological origins

• Be able to contextualize any findings from biomechanical

modeling studies
Limitations in modeling
• Caveats in modeling
• P0 estimation
• ST
• PCSA
• Force estimation
• FV curve
• FL curve
• Excitation-contraction dynamics
• More elaborate variables
• Torque estimation
• Moment arm
• Methods of calculation
• Differences wrt body positioning
• Fatigue
P0 estimation
• Max tension = PCSA * ST
• ST = specific tension

• PCSA = MV/L * Cos(phi)

• MV = muscle volume
• L = optimal fiber length
• Phi = pennation angle

• How does one get these values?

Force estimation
• Force – Velocity
• Constants define shape of curve
• What may change the curve/constants?
• Different equation for high forces:
• Alcazar, Julian, et al. "On the shape of the force-velocity relationship in skeletal muscles: The linear, the
hyperbolic, and the double-hyperbolic." Frontiers in physiology 10 (2019): 769.

• Force – Length
• What could change this shape?
• Excitation – contraction
• 1 fiber differs from whole muscle
• Remember fiber type graph?
Modeling muscle

• First box is recruitment/muscle activation

OpenSim muscle tutorial excerpt
Moment arm calculation
• Ingram, David, et al. "Muscle moment-arms: a key element in muscle-force estimation." Computer methods in biomechanics
and biomedical engineering 18.5 (2015): 506-513.
• Sherman, Michael A., Ajay Seth, and Scott L. Delp. "What is a moment arm? Calculating muscle effectiveness in
biomechanical models using generalized coordinates." ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences
and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers Digital Collection,
2013.
• Depends on muscle representation
• OpenSim is 1D with some Via-Points
• How are via points defined?
• What are MMPs? How can they be defined? Advantages?
• Simplest is geometric
• Can also simplify curved muscle path with tangent line
• More elaborate methods exist
• Tendon excursion method: r = dl/d𝜃
Fatigue
• Fatigue and other metabolic changes affect a muscle’s ability to
contract and produce force
• Relatively newer area of research
• Of interest when considering application to occupational injury
risk
• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Muscular injury (as opposed to disc herniation)
• EMG studies help
Questions?
• Anything you would like to go over again?