EFFECT OF CONTINUOUS AND INTERMITTENT MECHANICAL LOADING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKELETAL MUSCLE DAMAGE - A COMBINED EXPERIMENTAL/NUMERICAL APPROACH

摘要

1. Muscle damage was only present in high-strain areas,regardless of the applied loading pattern.2. Damage only occurred when the strain energy exceeded athreshold of -0.1 mJ/mm. This threshold was equal for eachloading pattern.3. Above the threshold, the strain-damage relation was similarfor the 2 hours of continuous and intermittent loading. Ashorter loading period (10 minutes) resulted in less damagefor the same strain energy.4. High deformations in muscle tissue can already be damagingafter 10 minutes and should therefore be avoided to decreasethe risk of developing DTI.