Frogs are impressively powerful and agile animals, attracting workers interested in the musculoskeletal design principles that enable high-performance swimming.

Additionally, for several decades, frog leg muscles have extensively been used as model systems for muscle physiology.  Consequently, many important aspects of intrinsic in vitro muscle function (force-length and force-velocity properties, contraction kinetics, etc.) are well known in frogs, providing critical insights required for understanding how muscles operate in vivo.  Further, recent studies have contributed detailed morphological data characterizing the mechanical actions of hind limb muscles at joints.  Such work has helped to establish frogs as ideal models for the integrative study of physiology, morphology, biomechanics and performance. Back to overview...