Reciprocal

Inhibition
• According to the principle of "reciprocal
innervation," the contraction of a
skeletal muscle -- say, the biceps muscle
of the upper front arm -- results in the
simultaneous relaxation of it's
"antagonist" muscle group -- the triceps
muscle of the upper back arm, in our
example here.
• In its traditional formulation, reciprocal
innervation points to an either/or
situation: when one muscle group is
"turned on," its opposing group is
necessarily "turned off."
• “ When the central nervous
system sends a message to
the agonist muscle (muscle
causing movement) to
contract, the tension in the
antagonist muscle (muscle
opposing movement) is
inhibited by impulses from
motor neurons, and thus
must simultaneously relax.
This neural phenomenon is
called reciprocal inhibition.
• Reciprocal inhibition
describes muscles on
one side of a joint
relaxing to
accommodate
contraction on the
other side of that joint.
• Reciprocal Inhibition, however, can
backfire by both muscles attempting
to contract at the same time.
• Thus a common tear can occur at
muscle level which can cause death.
• The body handles this pretty well
during physical activities like running,
where muscles that oppose each
other are engaged and disengaged
sequentially to produce coordinated
movement.
• This facilitates ease of movement
and is a safeguard against injury.
• Sometimes, for example, a
football running back can
experience a "misfiring" of motor
units and end up simultaneously
contracting the quads and
hamstrings during a hard sprint.
• If these muscles, which act
opposite to each other are fired at
the same time, at a high intensity,
a tear can result.
• The stronger muscle, usually the
quadriceps in this case,
overpowers the hamstrings.
• This sometimes results in a
common injury known as a pulled
hamstring.
• Muscles fall into two basic
groups, depending on what
we are doing at any given
moment.
• For example, the quadriceps
are the agonists for extending
or straightening the knee.
• The hamstrings stretch when
the knee extends and so are
the antagonists for this action.
• The hamstrings become the
agonist muscle when the knee
bends and the quadriceps
become the antagonist.
• In the straight leg, the
quadriceps (green) are the
agonists and the
hamstrings (red) are the
antagonists.
• In the flexed leg, the
hamstrings (green) are the
agonists and the
quadriceps (red) are the
antagonists.