Abstract
The mechanical properties of biological soft tissue depend on its strain rate. Many experimental studies have been done on the static properties of skeletal muscle in active states. However, there are few data on the dynamic mechanical properties of skeletal muscle in an active state at such a high strain rate as that seen in traffic and sports accidents. With this in mind, we examined the dynamic mechanical properties of skeletal muscle by in situ animal experiments. First, we performed isometric contraction tests to develop an experimental method of controlling muscle contraction. Next we conducted tensile tests of the tibialis anterior muscle under two strain-rate conditions in both the passive and active state to evaluate the strain-rate and muscle contraction dependence of the mechanical properties of skeletal muscle. Based on our experimental results, we found an extensionrate dependence on the failure load was independent of muscle tone. The failure site depended on the extension rate and muscle tone. These findings are expected to provide basic data for muscle injury prevention in traffic and sports accidents.
