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. 2020 May 29;10:8793. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-65626-5

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Effect of foot stiffness on ankle-foot gear ratio. (A) Gear ratio is the ratio of the lever arm of ground reaction force (R) and the lever arm of the ankle plantarflexor (calf) muscle (r) about the ankle joint center. (B) Lengthening the lever arm of ground reaction force (R’), by adding longitudinal foot stiffness, increases gear ratio and requires a greater force from the plantarflexor muscles to maintain a moment balance. Altering the gear ratio has been shown to shift force-velocity operating behavior of the plantarflexor muscles.