Figure 2.

Thumb adduction force (top) and metacarpophalangeal joint angle (bottom) as a function of time for an exmplar isometric reference contraction at 0° thumb abduction (solid line, Ref isom), a pure shortening‐induced force depression (dotted line, FD) and a stretch‐shortening cycle (SSC) in which shortening follows the stretching phase after 500msec delay (↓ start of shortening) at a 30°/s stretch velocity (dashed line, SSC_0.5s). The average force (mean 200msec) before stretching (b‐STR, •), the maximum force at the end of the stretch (e‐STR;▲), the minimum force at end of shortening (e‐SHO; ■) and the average isometric steady‐state force (red vertical dotted line; 500msec) prior to muscle deactivation were assessed.