1

EBME 309 – Muscles as Force Producers and Moment Producers

A common question in movement science is one that asks whether muscle is a

moment producer or a force producer. The
answer is that muscles are force producers. Bone 1
But because their forces act at distances O
from the joints they cross, they tend to
θ
r

produce forces and moments at those joints. O

V
This is similar to what we have discussed
briefly in Lecture Notes 1 and will discuss in via-point
detail in subsequent lectures. When muscle
does not wrap around any bone, we can
Joint
determine its instantaneous length as the
distance between the origin (O) and the
I I
insertion (I) on the two bones (Fig 1(a)).
Bone 2
However, if the muscle wraps around a bone,
it contacts the bone at points called via
Lmt = LOV + LVI
Lmt = LOI = rθ + LVI
points
(a) (b)
(example V in Fig. 1
Fig 1(b)). At
Muscle
Hip
Origin the last via point, the muscle has a line of sight to the
Joint
insertion point or to the last via point on the opposing bone.
rH
We have to develop a technique to estimate the amount of

F muscle length that connects the last via points on the two
bones. Since we shall be dealing with dynamics of connected
bodies, these lengths can be easily estimated using the
Hamstring
Muscle vectors that define the locations and velocities of the various

F Knee points from a defined global reference frame.

Joint
Strategy for Computing Lmt and Vmt
rK
Recall from the dynamic equation for muscle force,
Muscle
Insertion the normalized force output is a function of the
instantaneous variables Lmt and Vmt . To compute these at
Fig. 2
every integration step, we have to use the information from
 2

the dynamics of the skeletal sub-system. This is

because the musculotendon attaches to the bones at
Joint
the ‘origin’ and ‘insetion’ points on the bones and
these may change their position in inertial space as
Bone 1

the simulation proceeds. If the muscle contracts so

O that the two end points (origin and insertion)
Bone 2
remain at the same location, Lmt remains constant

and this type of conraction is called isometric

Lmt contraction. However, if the two end points change
their position with respect to inertial space, Lmt is
I
varying and the contraction is non-isometric. Very
often muscle wraps around bones before crossing the
Fig. 3
joint and attaching to the opposing bone.

To see how these variables should be computed, consider the diagram shown in Fig.
3 where for simplicity we assume that there is a direct line of site between the origin (O)
and the insertion (I).

(a) Distance between O and I

Consider the positions of O and I from

a fixed reference frame e(0) which has origin
at E as shown in Fig. 4. The absolute Joint
positions of O and I from the fixed frame
Bone 1
e(0) are defined by the vectors rO and rI
respectively. The line vector that defines the O
position of I from O is called the position of I
relative to O and is written as rI/O . Clearly Bone 2
rI/O
we can see that the length of rI/O is the same
rO
as the length of the muscle! From vector Lmt
mechanics (triangle of vectors, EOI) we have:
I
rI  rO  rI/O
rI e(0)
E
∴ rI/O  rI  rO (1)
Fig. 4
 3

The length of any vector is defined by the square root of the dot product of the vector with

itself. Thus for any vector v , v  v T v . Here the superscript T denotes transpose. Using

this fact for the vector rI/O above, we have that:

∴ rI/O  rI/O T rI/o (2)

Inserting equation (1) into equation (2), we get:

r  r 
T
∴ L  rI/O  I
 rO I
 rO (3)

This equation is what we need to compute the instantaneous length of the muscle attached
between the origin O and the insertion I. The only information we need is the
instantaneous positions of O and I from the same fixed reference frame at any instant of
time.

(b) Velocity along line of action OI

Unlike the length calculation, the velocity calculation is a bit more complicated. This
is because whereas the relative position
vector between two points lies along the
line connecting them, the same is not
true of the relative velocity between
them. The relative velocity between two
Bone 1

Unit vector u along line

connecting O and I
points can point to an arbitrary
direction away from the line connecting O
the two points. The velocity of the
muscle Vmt that we are interested in

computing is the velocity of I relative to

Bone 2
θ
O along the line connecting them. To
VI/O
get this quantity, we can project the
actual relative velocity onto the line by Velocity of I relative
to O projected onto
using vector dot product between the I line connecting O and I
actual relative velocity vector and a unit
vector pointing along the line between
O and I (Fig. 5). Suppose the velocities Fig. 5
 4

of O and I are v O and vI in the global or fixed reference frame e(0) . Then we have:

vI  vO  vI/O

∴ vI/O  vI  vO

Again, unlike rI/O , there is no guarantee that vI/O is along the line OI. But the velocity

needed to represent Vmt is the one along OI. So the velocity of I relative O that is important

is the one along OI. Thus we must be able to compute the component of vI/O along OI.

Assume vI/O acts in the direction shown in Fig. 5. To find its component along OI, we first

define a unit vector u along OI. The unit vector along any vector v can be obtained by
v v
dividing v with its length – i.e. as  . We can use the displacement vector
v vT v
connecting O and I = rI/O to define the unit vector as:

u 
rI/O

rI
 rO 
rI/O L

Note that the vector u points from O toward I. Hence it is positive in the direction OI.
Once we calculate u , the component of vI/O along u is obtained as:

v 
I/O u
 v I/O u cos θ

But this is basically the definition of dot product of two vectors

v 
I/O u
 vI/O  u  v I/O
T
u

Thus we can write the velocity of the muscle as:

v  r 
T
dLmt  vO  rO
v 
T I I
 Lmt  vI/O  u   vO u  (4)
dt I
Lmt

Equation (3) can be used to compute the instantaneous length Lmt of the musculotendon

while equation (4) can be used to compute the instantaneous velocity Vmt between the

origin and insertion points.

NOTE: The only information required to compute Lmt and Vmt are the absolute position

vectors rO and rI and the absolute velocities v O and vI of the origin and insertion points
 5

respectively of the muscle. There is no need to go through complicated geometry

calculations to get the desired values.

Case of Stiff Tendon - Use of Moment Arms

Recall that we require the two variables Lmt and Vmt only in the case where we have

compliant tendon and we need to integrate two first order odes (one for activation and
one for muscle force). In the case of stiff tendon, we only need to integrate the activation
dyanamics and we can compute the muscle force using Hill’s equation Fm  aF0fL (Lm )fV (Vm ) .

In this case, we can compute the moment generated by the muscle around the joint it
crosses by multiplying the force Fm with the muscle moment arms such as rH and rK in Fig.

2 and inserting it in Newton’s Law for rotation  M  I  α .

Example

Consider a body-segment (Body2) rotating

y
about a joint O with respect to a fixed rigid body
Body1 a
(Body1). The bodies are acted upon by a
musculotendon AB with origin at A (in Body1) A
O b
and insertion at B (in Body2). Body2 is rotating x
Fm
with an angular velocity ω  θ  5 rad/s about

a perpendicular axis through O. Compute the

instantaneous length and velocity of the 
musculotendon. Let θ  30 , a = 5cm, b = 3cm,
o

L Fm
d = 2cm and L = 13cm. Also, suppose for the
musculotendon, maximum isometric force B
d
F0  500 N and at the instant when θ  30o ,

our integrator returned a value of Fm  0.15 .

Body2
Find the length and velocity of the
musculotendon and the vector of musculotendon
forces to apply at A and B.
 6

Solution

Length Lmt

r  r 
T
To find the length, we use Lmt  rB/A  B
 rA B
 rA

Here, rA and rB are the position vectors of A and B with respect to the fixed reference

frame Oxy. From the figure, the position of the musculotendon origin A is obtained as:

a 5 
   
rA   b   3
0  0
   

The position of the insertion pint B in Oxy is obtained as:

 L sin θ  d cos θ   13 sin 30  2 cos 30   8.23 

     
rB   L cos θ  d sin θ    13 cos 30  2 sin 30    10.26 d B


0 



0  
 
0 


 8.23  5   3.23 
   
 rB/ A  rB  rA  10.26  3  13.26
 0   0 
   

r  r 
T
Hence Lmt  rB/A  B
 rA B
 rA 3.232  (13.26)2  02  13.65 cm

Velocity Vmt

To get the velocity, first compute the unit vector from A to B using u 
rB/ A

r
B
 rA 
rB/ A L

From the data above, we immediately see that:

3.23   3.23 / 13.65   0.2366 

u 
rB/ A

r
B
 rA   13.26    
/ 13.65  13.26 / 13.65  0.9714

     
rB/ A L      
0 0 0
     

Now we find vB/A  vB  v A

0 
 
Since the point A is on a fixed body (Body1), v A  0   0 
0 
 
 7

But we notice that B is on Body2 which is rotating with angular velocity ω ; hence B will
have a finite velocity vB  ω x rB .

 8.23  0  0 
     
From our data above, rB   10.26 and we are given that ω   0    0 
 0  θ  5 
     

0   8.23  51.3
     
Hence vB  ω x rB   0  x  10.26   41.1 cm/s
5   0   0 
     

51.3 0 51.3

     
Now, vB/ A  vB  v A   41.1  0    41.1 cm/s
 0  0   0 
     

From our lecture

51.3  0.2366 
dLmt    
v 
T
 Vmt  vB/ A  u   vA u  41.1  0.9714    27.79 cm/s
dt B
 0   
0
   

Using unit vectors to extract muscle force vector

Note that since we know Fm (a scalar) by integrating the second musculotendon

state equation, we can get the vector equivalent of this force by multiplying with the unit
vector u (since both Fm and u act along the musculotendon):

 0.2366   0.15  500  0.2366   17.745 

     
F 
m applied at A 
 Fm  F0  0.9714    0.15  500  (0.9714)  72.855 
 0   0   0 
     
And for force applied at B, we use the unit vector pointing from B toward A; which is the
negative of that from A toward B:
 0.2366  0.15  500  (0.2366)  17.745 
     
F 
m applied at B 
 Fm  F0   0.9714    0.15  500  (0.9714)    72.855 
 0   0   0 
     
These forces will be applied in Newton’s second law equations for the Body1 and Body2 as
the integration of the system equations proceeds.