Relative displacements in muscle and tendon during human arm movements

1. X-ray, cine and video recordings were made of the movement of radio-opaque markers injected into the musculo-tendinous junctions of biceps brachii muscle. 2. In strong isometric contractions, the distal tendon of the long head of biceps lengthened by about 2% of its estimated rest length. 3. During voluntary isotonic elbow flexion-extension movements at frequencies up to 5.5 Hz there was no detectable phase shift between intramuscular and joint displacements. 4. In the fastest alternating movements (5.5-6.7 Hz) small phase advances developed in the muscle. 5. We conclude that human tendons do stretch during muscle contraction, but not enough to cause intramuscular phase reversals in rapid unloaded movements. This in turn means that muscle spindles shorten and lengthen virtually in phase with joint movements under most conditions.