title: Rate Coding and the Control of Muscle Force.
abstract: The force exerted by a muscle during a voluntary contraction depends on the number of motor units recruited for the action and the rates at which they discharge action potentials (rate coding). Over most of the operating range of a muscle, the nervous system controls muscle force by varying both motor unit recruitment and rate coding. Except at relatively low forces, however, the control of muscle force depends primarily on rate coding, especially during fast contractions. This review provides five examples of how the modulation of rate coding influences the force exerted by muscle during voluntary actions. The five examples comprise fast contractions, lengthening and shortening contractions, steady isometric contractions, fatiguing contractions, and contractions performed after a change in the daily level of physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0354.
authors.forename: Roger M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Enoka
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Biology and Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duchateau
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D011999:Recruitment, Neurophysiological