Week 6: Integrative Muscle Structure and Function — Organ, Limb, and Whole-Organism Levels

This week extends the muscle physiology unit from the cellular and tissue scales of Week 5 up through the organ, limb, and whole-organism scales of locomotion.

Lectures

• Lecture 13: Integrative Muscle Structure and Function 3 — Organ and Limb Level (37 slides) Muscle-tendon architecture (PCSA, pennation, tendon ratios), force-length and force-velocity trade-offs, lever systems, and effective mechanical advantage scaling with body size.

• Lecture 14: Integrative Muscle Function 4 — Limb and Whole-Organism Level (37 slides) Inverse dynamics, the proximo-distal gradient, in vivo work loops in turkey, wallaby, guinea fowl, and cockatiel, the motor-spring-brake framework, human ultrasound, and applications to prosthetics and exoskeletons.

• Week 6 Friday Review and Discussion (19 slides) Recap of in vivo case studies, human walking and running ultrasound, prosthetics, and exoskeletons; three quantitative practice questions on architecture, lever systems, and work loops.