Horses damp the spring in their step
Horses damp the spring in their step
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DOI：
10.1038/414895a
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发表时间：
2001-12
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
A. Wilson;M. P. Mcguigan;A. Su;A. J. van den Bogert
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Wilson;M. P. Mcguigan;A. Su;A. J. van den Bogert
马奔跑时的肌肉工作通过在类似弹簧的肌肉肌腱单元中存储和返回弹性应变能而减半，这使得腿就像孩子的弹簧高跷，可以以每秒2.5步的速度拉伸和反冲。这种机制通过独特的肌肉骨骼适应性进行了优化：指屈肌具有极短的纤维和显著的被动特性，而肌腱非常长，跨越几个关节。长度的变化是通过像弹簧一样的手指屈肌腱的拉伸而发生的，而不是通过肌肉中能量昂贵的长度变化。尽管对于这种机制来说显然是多余的，但指屈肌中的肌纤维发育良好。在这里，我们表明，弹性腿的机械布置允许它以30-40 Hz的较高频率振动，这可能导致肌腱和骨骼的疲劳损伤。此外，我们表明，手指屈肌肌肉有最小的能力，有助于或调节显着的2.5赫兹周期的运动，但理想的安排，以阻尼这些高频振荡的肢体。
The muscular work of galloping in horses is halved by storing and returning elastic strain energy in spring-like muscle–tendon units,.These make the legs act like a child's pogo stick that is tuned to stretch and recoil at 2.5 strides per second. This mechanism is optimized by unique musculoskeletal adaptations: the digital flexor muscles have extremely short fibres and significant passive properties, whereas the tendons are very long and span several joints,. Length change occurs by a stretching of the spring-like digital flexor tendons rather than through energetically expensive length changes in the muscle. Despite being apparently redundant for such a mechanism, the muscle fibres in the digital flexors are well developed. Here we show that the mechanical arrangement of the elastic leg permits it to vibrate at a higher frequency of 30–40 Hz that could cause fatigue damage to tendon and bone. Furthermore, we show that the digital flexor muscles have minimal ability to contribute to or regulate significantly the 2.5-Hz cycle of movement, but are ideally arranged to damp these high-frequency oscillations in the limb.