ANALYSIS OF TENSEGRILE BEHAVIOR IN SPASTICITY: MUSCLE MECHANICS IN FORCE PRODUCTION

D.M. Poveda Arias^1,2, K.M. Alvis^1,2

Background: Among the functional consequences of spasticity, some are from a mechanical type, such as changes in the production of force, energy transmission, etc. in muscle tissue. These consequences can be analyzed from a physical property of the human body called tensegrity; related to the equilibrium of architecture in terms of force balance and energy transmission. The  analysis from tensegrity behavior on the production of muscle strength in spastic muscle tissue has not been reviewed.

Purpose: To describe from a theoretical perspective the relationship between tensegrity behavior and the production of muscle strength in spastic muscle tissue.

Methods: Analytical review, evidence from scientific publications between 2003 and 2020, accessible in databases PUBMED, ScienceDirect, Scielo, Google academic, Redalyc, was analyzed. 28 articles were chosen, which included MESH terms tensegrity, force production, force transmission, spasticity, etc. From the collected information, three categories of analysis are proposed, production of muscle strength and tensegrity, production of muscle strength and spasticity, and finally spasticity and tensegrity.

Results: Tensegrity in the muscle is given by the physiological characteristics of the tissue and each of the elements that are part of the process of muscle contraction. To know the fiber architecture and the tensegrity properties of this fiber will allow us to understand in a better way the mechanotransduction processes of force production from the analysis of the interaction of the cytoskeleton elements, so it is possible to understand how they act answering to internal and external loads. The stiffness in spastic muscle tissue is related to the pretension that will be increased when external loads are applied. The stiffness given in the spastic muscle will affect the production of force, related to the decrease in the length of the physiological fiber. This length of fiber affects the optimal length of the muscle, generating affectation for the generation of force and movement and altering the tensegrity equilibrium of the global structure. The models that explain the muscle function are closely related with the Tensegrity Model and interrelated the mechanical and structured analysis and determine the functionality of the subject.

Conclusion(s): The mechanotransduction processes of the production of muscular force will be determined by the tensegrity property of the tissue, where the understanding of the muscular structure as a tensegrity tissue will allow to better identify each interaction between the elements belonging to the same tissue. Tensegrity behavior allows the analysis of mechanotransduction processes such as the production of force in spastic muscle tissue, bearing in mind the specific characteristics that vary due to the increased pretension from the loss of ability to modulate the tonic reflex threshold. Among these analyzes, they allow us to understand the interaction between force and muscle activation, wherewith less force, the trigger of sudden muscle activation will be generated, generating pathological reflexes.

Implications: This review allows us to conclude further, that it can be a basis for the realization of a tensegrity model in patients with spasticity, allowing us to understand the veracity of the relationships posed on the dynamics of force production in spastic muscle.

Funding, acknowledgements: Universidad Nacional de Colombia- Grupo de Investigación: Análisis Mecánico y Neuromecánico del Movimiento 

Keywords: Spasticity, Tensegrity, Muscle Force Production

Topic: Musculoskeletal

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: N/A

Committee: N/A

Reason: This work not implies experimental or invasive methods.