Thursday, September 18, 2008

Econcentrics

This term refers to the concept that muscles may be acting concentrically, eccentrically, & isometrically all at the same time, at different joints, and/or in different planes of motion. JH asked me to give an example of where this occurs in the human body, and the answer is everywhere. If you are going to buy into the concepts put forth in my blog, you have to re-examine the idea of agonists, antagonists, synergists, and stabilizers. In function, all muscle are synergists. I am not an expert in this area, and if you need more info, Gary Gray goes in depth on the concept in one of his functional video digests. If you really want to dive into this stuff, apply for next year's GAIN APPRENTORSHIP and learn hands on. Dr. Dan Cipriani, biomechanics professor at San Diego State will go over the theory, while Vern & Steve put it into practice.
Ay Dios Mio, here come the rotten tomatoes again, but here is an example:
The gastrocnemius at late mid stance: Proximally is isometrically contracting to prevent hyperextension at the knee, distally eccentrically decelerating dorsiflexion at the ankle, while concentrically inverting the calcaneus.

3 comments:

GMG said...

Is it safe to say the muscles with econcentric capacity are primarily bi-articulate, or can you provide an alternative example?
Thx.

Joe Przytula said...

I can't think of any skeletal muscles off hand that aren't. Moving immediately superior for instance, the popliteus muscle is monoarticular & is very econcentric.

JH said...

Joe,
Thanks for the example. My brain needs examples in order to process concepts...so thanks again.

I would love to join the GAIN network and I would also love to join Gary Gray's GIFT program but it takes money and I ain't got it.