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The motor unit

  • Chapter
Control of Human Voluntary Movement

Abstract

The previous chapter discussed some of the properties of whole muscles and the importance of these properties in the overall control of movement. This chapter is concerned with the internal organization of single muscles. A muscle does not consist of an homogeneous population of muscle fibres: there are several different types of fibre within muscle, each of which have different mechanical properties. Thus the range of operation of the whole muscle is extended beyond that expected from any one fibre type alone.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit, Institute of Neurology, London, UK

    John Rothwell (Head of Movement Disorder Section)

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  1. John Rothwell
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© 1994 John Rothwell

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Rothwell, J. (1994). The motor unit. In: Control of Human Voluntary Movement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6960-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6960-8_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-47700-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-6960-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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