A biomechanical inactivation principle

This paper develops the mathematical side of a theory of inactivations in human biomechanics. This theory has been validated by practical experiments, including zero-gravity experiments. The theory mostly relies on Pontryagin’s maximum principle on the one side and on transversality theory on the other side. It turns out that the periods of silence in the activation of muscles that are observed in practice during the motions of the arm can appear only if “something like the energy expenditure” is minimized. Conversely, minimization of a criterion taking into account the “energy expenditure” guaranties the presence of these periods of silence, for sufficiently short movements.