2020 Neuromuscular Fundamentals: How Our Musculature is Controlled (pdf))

Description

This book is rather unique in its approach and coverage. The approach is essentially that of an engineering textbook, emphasizing the quantitative aspects and highlighting the fundamentals and basic concepts involved. The coverage progresses in a logical and systematic manner from the subcellular, starting with the electrophysiology of the cell membrane, then proceeding to synapses, neurons, and muscle, before considering neuronal motor ensembles and the neuromuscular system as a whole. Simple, clear, and comprehensive explanations are given throughout. After an introductory chapter on some background material in biology, biophysics, and chemical kinetics, a substantial part of the book (Chapters 2-8) necessarily covers in considerable detail the basic components and processes that underlie the electrical and associated activities of the nervous system. The remaining chapters of the book (Chapters 9-13) focus on the neuromuscular system, starting with the structure of muscle cells, the generation of force by muscular contraction, and muscle receptors. The last chapter examines aspects of the control of movement, motor learning and memory, the maintenance of posture, and locomotion, and critically examines some of the theories that have been advanced to explain how movement is controlled. The book is intended for undergraduate or graduate students in the natural sciences, mathematics, or engineering who seek a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of neuroscience and the somatomotor system, in accordance with the aforementioned objectives. The book can serve as a textbook for a one-semester course on the neuromuscular system or as a reference in a more general course on neuroscience.