Alterations to the history-dependence of force following short term unloading.

The history-dependence of force refers to the reduction or increase in force following active muscle shortening (residual torque depression; rTD) or lengthening (residual torque enhancement; rTE), respectively. It has been shown that rTE is maintained at the cellular level in conditions of reduced contractile force. The present study investigated the modifiability of the history-dependence of force following short term unloading of the leg. Despite an overall loss of torque generating capacity, relative rTE and rTD appeared to be unaffected.