Submitted by Repulsive_Cry_2200 t3_10d3ikf in askscience
goosebattle t1_j4kvw57 wrote
Reply to comment by DoomGoober in Why are skeletal muscle fibres bundled? by Repulsive_Cry_2200
This is incorrect. Our muscles fire in a mosaic pattern, not as fascicles. Fibre type grouping occurs in disease and aging when muscle fibres lose innervation and become reinnervated by near neighbours resulting in the regional firing patterns you describe.
Edit: an advantage of mosiac firing pattern is that it spreads the stresses across the muscle rather than generating regions of high local stresses. Fascicles (i.e., the perimysium) help transmit the stresses from fibres to tendons.
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