Just like the title says, can an amputee gain muscle mass as well as tone their muscles if their amputation occurs above a joint? (Ie. right at or above their elbow or knee) and if so, how?
In: Biology
In theory, if they can regularly fire those muscles and have strong contractions. They typically work by pulling across a joint, and let you incrementally load the muscle fibers. It depends on how they anchored those muscle bellies, or if they’re anchored at all. A lot the muscle growth response is related to inducing mechanical tension, as well as metabolic fatigue. For example, imagine your quad isn’t anchored to your patella anymore, and it’s just sort of rolled up and sitting loosely in your thigh. If you can make those motor units fire, they’re not really pulling against anything. If they anchored the end of your quad into your distal femur, then you might be able to contract your quad *against* something and get the stimulus you need for growth.
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