Abstract
An electromyographic investigation was performed on the hands of six volunteers. The functioning of the lumbrical and flexor digitorum profundus muscles during resisted and unresisted extension was studied. No subject showed much simultaneous contraction of the two muscles in unresisted extension of the interphalangeal joints, but some showed marked simultaneous contraction during resisted extension. We suggest that, in these individuals, the profundus is acting to steady the origin of the lumbrical so that it can act more efficiently.
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