Fig. 8. Hypothetical relationships between muscle fiber and connective tissue recruitment. (A) All connective tissue is loaded at every recruitment level, leading to a linear increase in connective tissue stress with an increasing number of muscle fibers recruited. (B) The amount of connective tissue is a constant function of recruitment, leading to a constant stress in the connective tissue. (C) The amount of connective tissue recruited is disproportionately high at low forces, with an increase as force rises. This leads to a non-linear increase in connective tissue stress with recruitment. For details, see text.

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