Question

1. Muscle strength application:

1. Give the definition of muscle strength and describe the main applications of strength measurement                                                                                                         [5 marks]

2. Describe the main structural and functional differences between fusiform and pennate muscles in terms of their fibre length, velocity and force and their typical force-length and force-velocity relationships                                                  [5 marks]

(c) Which parameter related to muscle size and structure determines muscle power? Explain why, and summarise how O’Brien et al. (2009) demonstrate this to be the case in both adults and children, in their study titled “Strong relationships exist between muscle volume, joint power and whole-body external mechanical power in adults and children”.                                                                                                                        [10 marks]

Answer 1

a. Muscle strength is the force which a muscle can produce in a single effort. Perineometer can be applied in the measurement of pelvic floor muscle strength (Nahid Rahmani et al, 2011)

b. Fusifrom muscle has a shape of spindle, is being wider in the middle and narrowing towards both ends. Example of fusiform muscle is the biceps brachii.A pennate muscle is a muscle with fascicles (bundle of skeletal muscle fibers) that attach obliquely (in a slanting position) to its tendon. These types of muscles generally allow higher force production but smaller range of motion. When a muscle contracts and shortens, the pennation angle increases. Pennate muscles are stronger than fusiform muscles. In a pennate muscle, as a result of the greater number of sarcomeres arranged in parallel, its physiological cross sectional area (the cross-sectional area taken perpendicular to its fibers rather than the entire muscle) is usually greater than that of a parallel-fiber muscle,