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Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking
Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain funct...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8921480/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35299659 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.792576 |
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author | Stäudle, Benjamin Seynnes, Olivier Laps, Guido Brüggemann, Gert-Peter Albracht, Kirsten |
author_facet | Stäudle, Benjamin Seynnes, Olivier Laps, Guido Brüggemann, Gert-Peter Albracht, Kirsten |
author_sort | Stäudle, Benjamin |
collection | PubMed |
description | Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain functional limitations during—low-force—walking gait. To explore the potential limits imposed by the remodeled GM muscle-tendon unit (MTU) on walking gait, we examined the contractile behavior of muscle fascicles during the stance phase. In a cross-sectional design, we studied nine former patients (males; age: 45 ± 9 years; height: 180 ± 7 cm; weight: 83 ± 6 kg) with a history of complete unilateral ATR, approximately 4 years post-surgery. Using ultrasonography, GM tendon morphology, muscle architecture at rest, and fascicular behavior were assessed during walking at 1.5 m⋅s(–1) on a treadmill. Walking patterns were recorded with a motion capture system. The unaffected leg served as control. Lower limbs kinematics were largely similar between legs during walking. Typical features of ATR-related MTU remodeling were observed during the stance sub-phases corresponding to series elastic element (SEE) lengthening (energy storage) and SEE shortening (energy release), with shorter GM fascicles (36 and 36%, respectively) and greater pennation angles (8° and 12°, respectively). However, relative to the optimal fascicle length for force production, fascicles operated at comparable length in both legs. Similarly, when expressed relative to optimal fascicle length, fascicle contraction velocity was not different between sides, except at the time-point of peak series elastic element (SEE) length, where it was 39 ± 49% lower in the affected leg. Concomitantly, fascicles rotation during contraction was greater in the affected leg during the whole stance-phase, and architectural gear ratios (AGR) was larger during SEE lengthening. Under the present testing conditions, former ATR patients had recovered a relatively symmetrical walking gait pattern. Differences in seen AGR seem to accommodate the profound changes in MTU architecture, limiting the required fascicle shortening velocity. Overall, the contractile behavior of the GM fascicles does not restrict length- or velocity-dependent force potentials during this locomotor task. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8921480 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-89214802022-03-16 Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking Stäudle, Benjamin Seynnes, Olivier Laps, Guido Brüggemann, Gert-Peter Albracht, Kirsten Front Physiol Physiology Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain functional limitations during—low-force—walking gait. To explore the potential limits imposed by the remodeled GM muscle-tendon unit (MTU) on walking gait, we examined the contractile behavior of muscle fascicles during the stance phase. In a cross-sectional design, we studied nine former patients (males; age: 45 ± 9 years; height: 180 ± 7 cm; weight: 83 ± 6 kg) with a history of complete unilateral ATR, approximately 4 years post-surgery. Using ultrasonography, GM tendon morphology, muscle architecture at rest, and fascicular behavior were assessed during walking at 1.5 m⋅s(–1) on a treadmill. Walking patterns were recorded with a motion capture system. The unaffected leg served as control. Lower limbs kinematics were largely similar between legs during walking. Typical features of ATR-related MTU remodeling were observed during the stance sub-phases corresponding to series elastic element (SEE) lengthening (energy storage) and SEE shortening (energy release), with shorter GM fascicles (36 and 36%, respectively) and greater pennation angles (8° and 12°, respectively). However, relative to the optimal fascicle length for force production, fascicles operated at comparable length in both legs. Similarly, when expressed relative to optimal fascicle length, fascicle contraction velocity was not different between sides, except at the time-point of peak series elastic element (SEE) length, where it was 39 ± 49% lower in the affected leg. Concomitantly, fascicles rotation during contraction was greater in the affected leg during the whole stance-phase, and architectural gear ratios (AGR) was larger during SEE lengthening. Under the present testing conditions, former ATR patients had recovered a relatively symmetrical walking gait pattern. Differences in seen AGR seem to accommodate the profound changes in MTU architecture, limiting the required fascicle shortening velocity. Overall, the contractile behavior of the GM fascicles does not restrict length- or velocity-dependent force potentials during this locomotor task. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8921480/ /pubmed/35299659 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.792576 Text en Copyright © 2022 Stäudle, Seynnes, Laps, Brüggemann and Albracht. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Physiology Stäudle, Benjamin Seynnes, Olivier Laps, Guido Brüggemann, Gert-Peter Albracht, Kirsten Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title | Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title_full | Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title_fullStr | Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title_full_unstemmed | Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title_short | Altered Gastrocnemius Contractile Behavior in Former Achilles Tendon Rupture Patients During Walking |
title_sort | altered gastrocnemius contractile behavior in former achilles tendon rupture patients during walking |
topic | Physiology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8921480/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35299659 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.792576 |
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