Fig. 3. Forces exerted at the proximal and distal transducers by rat medial gastrocnemius (GM) and plantaris (PL) muscles connected to extramuscular connective tissue at the level of the tendons and the muscle bellies (initial condition), within a dissected compartment. (A,B) Proximal active and passive force exerted at the GM tendon. (C,D) Distal active and passive force exerted at the calcaneal bone. Proximal force (closed symbols) represents force exerted predominantly by the GM muscle. Distal force (open symbols) represents predominantly the summed force exerted by the GM and PL muscles. Note that, at short lengths, the summed distal active force was lower than the proximal active force. Muscle-tendon complex length (L_m+t) is expressed as deviation from optimum length (L₀). Force is shown as mean ± S.E.M.