Applied anatomy and kinesiology : the mechanism of muscular movement / by Wilbur Pardon Bowen.
- Bowen, Wilbur Pardon, 1864-1928
- Date:
- [1919]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Applied anatomy and kinesiology : the mechanism of muscular movement / by Wilbur Pardon Bowen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![of structure will be noticed as wo proceed with t he study of individii.il muscles. Probably the most notable example is the gastrocnemius (].'jg. H3), which contains several penniform sheets and bundles formed into a well-rounded muscle. It is easy to get a fair estimate of the strength of longitudinal muscles, for by cross-sections made in the dissecting room the area can be readily obtained with a fair degree of accuracy, and the parallel direction of all the fibers makes it easy to get cross-sec¬ tions at right angles to the fibers. When we wish to know the strength of a penniform muscle the problem is very different, for a simple cross-section of such a muscle is oblique to the direction of its fibers and may not include half of them. In complex cases there is no apparent way to get the true cross-section. This method of learning about the strength of muscle is also lacking in that it gives us no knowledge as to the condition of the muscle and we have to assume it to be some arbitrary percentage of what it ought to be to make an estimate at all. Another way to determine muscular strength is by using a dynamometer. There are two types of dynamometer used for this purpose: one to test the muscular system as a whole and the other to test isolated groups of muscles. The first type of dynamometer is illus¬ trated by the kind used in col¬ leges to test the strength of lift (Fig. (>); the second by the kind used to test strength of grip. 'The former is useful to test a man’s general strength, and requires but little time; if we wish to know how a man’s strength is distributed we have to use a form of dynamometer that will test the strength of each muscle group separately (Fig. 7). This method does not give the actual pull of each muscle but its effective pull through its lever¬ age as it normally works; this can be compared with the strength of other men, giving us after all a fair estimate of condition. Fig. 6.—Use of a dynamometer for testing flic general strength of the muscular system.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29812124_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
