Moment arms about the carpal and metacarpophalangeal joints for flexor and extensor muscles in equine forelimbs

Objective: To determine whether muscle moment arms at the carpal and metacarpophalangeal joints can be modeled as fixed-radius pulleys for the range of motion associated with the stance phase of the gait in equine forelimbs. Sample Population: 4 cadaveric forelimbs from 2 healthy Thoroughbreds. Procedure: Thin wire cables were sutured at the musculotendinous junction of 9 forelimb muscles. The cables passed through eyelets at each muscle's origin, wrapped around single-turn potentiometers, and were loaded. Tendon excursions, measured as the changes in lengths of the cables, were recorded during manual rotation of the carpal (180° to 70°) and metacarpophalangeal (220° to 110°) joints. Extension of the metacarpophalangeal joint (180° and 220°) was forced with an independent loading frame. Joint angle was monitored with a calibrated potentiometer. Moment arms were calculated from the slopes of the muscle length versus joint angle curves. Results: At the metacarpophalangeal joint, digital flexor muscle moment arms changed in magnitude by ≤ 38% during metacarpophalangeal joint extension. Extensor muscle moment arms at the carpal and metacarpophalangeal joints also varied (≤ 41% at the carpus) over the range of joint motion associated with the stance phase of the gait. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Our findings suggest that, apart from the carpal flexor muscles, muscle moment arms in equine forelimbs cannot be modeled as fixed-radius pulleys. Assuming that muscle moment arms at the carpal and metacarpophalangeal joints have constant magnitudes may lead to erroneous estimates of muscle force in equine forelimbs.