Generalized model of a skeletal muscle

Abstract

A new phenomenological model of a skeletal muscle consisting of a contractile and two nonlinear viscoelastic elements is proposed. The corresponding system of differential equations of the model is obtained, which allows one to derive time-dependent relations between the axial stress and the longitudinal strain in passive and activated states of the muscle. Methods for determining the viscoelastic and functional characteristics of the muscle as input parameters of the equations mentioned above are developed. These methods are based on the joint application of known experimental relations for a single muscle fiber and the results of muscle indentation in vivo on a “Miometer UT 98-01” device.