PULLEYS
DR Asim Ahmad PT
Today's content
🠶 Levers at home and at work
🠶 Levers in physiotherapy
🠶 Angle of pull
🠶 Pulleys
🠶 Elasticity
Pulleys
🠶 Pulleys are used in both strength exercises and traction of the
body segments to change the direction of force; these pulleys are
single fixed pulleys.
🠶 A pulley can can also be used to increase or decrease the
magnitude of force; these pulleys are moveable pulley system and
sometime referred as block-and-tackle system.
Pulley
“A pulley is a grooved wheel
with a rope. passing in the
groove; a load is attached on
one end of the rope and the
effort is applied to the other
end”
IPM&R DUHS 24-03-2012
Function of PULLEY
A pulley changes the direction of
the force, making it easier to lift
things!
The working principle of the pulley is
When one end of the rope is pulled downwards,
the load on the other end of the rope is pulled
upward.
Therefore, the direction of force is changed from
downwards to upwards!
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L LE
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There are three types of pulleys:
❑ A single fixed pulley.
❑ A single movable pulley
❑ Pulley combination.
❑ A single fixed pulley
The line of action of a force may be changed by
means of a pulley.
A force acting in downward direction, is used to
move a weight in an upward direction.
When pulleys are fixed , they do not provide any
mechanical advantages to the force but only
change its direction. E.g. cervical traction.
A single fixed pulley is often used in
strengthening exercise.
The advantage of the fixed pulley is that you do not
have to pull or push the pulley up and down.
The disadvantage is that you have to apply more effort
than the load
IPM&R DUHS 24-03-2012
❑ A single movable pulley
When a pulley is free to move up and down along
with the load, it is called a movable pulley. This
pulley can also rotate like the fixed pulley.
The main advantage of a movable pulley is that you
use less effort to pull the load.
The main disadvantage of a movable pulley is that you
have to pull or push the pulley up or down
IPM&R DUHS 24-03-2012
A combined pulley makes life easier as the
effort needed to lift the load is less than half
the weight of the load.
The main advantage of this pulley is that the
amount of effort is less than half of the load.
The main disadvantage is it travels a very long
distance.
Angle of pull
Angle of pull is the angle between
muscle insertion and the bone on
which the muscle inserts
Or
The angle between the line of pull
of the muscle (action line) and the
mechanical axis of the bone or
segment involved
IPM&R DUHS 24-03-2012
Angle of pull
🠶 Definitions:
🠶 Angle of Pull: angle between muscle insertion and bone on which it
inserts.
🠶 Components of Force
🠶 Rotary component: force of a muscle contributing to bone's movement
around a joint axis; greatest when muscles angle of pull is
perpendicular to bone (i.e. 90 degrees).
🠶 Stabilizing component: degree of parallel forces generated on the lever
(bone and joint) when the muscles angle of pull is less than 90 degrees.
🠶 Dislocating component: degree of parallel forces generated on the lever
(bone and joint) when the muscle's angle of pull is greater than 90
degrees.
Anatomical Pulleys
• In the human body, in most cases
the pulley is replaced by a bone,
cartilage or ligament and the cord
is replaced by a muscle tendon.
• The tendon is lubricated in a
manner so that it may easily slide
over the pulley.
Classification of Anatomical
Pulleys
There are four classes of pulleys.
The first three of them are examples of
fixed pulleys and the fourth one is an
example of a movable one.
Class I
An improved muscle action comes from
the muscle tendon passing over an
external support, the external support
serving as pulley.
Class I example
The presence of the patella
within knee joints acts as
pulley by distancing the
tendon from the joint. It
improves the angle of pull
of the quadriceps muscle
on the anterior aspect of
the thigh.
Presence of patella
increases angle of pull and
also length of the effort
arm.
Class II
The action of the muscle at the joint
is altered because of the pulley
a)The pulley is a bone
b)The pulley is a cartilage
c) The pulley is a ligament
The pulley is a bone
The lateral malleolus of the fibula
acts as a pulley for the peroneus
longus muscle. If it was not for the
malleolus, this muscle instead of
passing behind the lateral
malleolus to be inserted in the base
of the first metatarsal and to
produce ankle plantar flexion and
eversion, it would have produced
ankle dorsiflexion and eversion
because of its passage in front of
the ankle joint.
The pulley is a cartilage
The trochlea of the eye
allows the superior oblique
muscle of the eye when it
passes over it to rotate the
eye obliquely. Without this
pulley, the muscle would have
little effect on the eye.
The pulley is a ligament
The flexor retinaculum of
the
. hand acts as a pulley for
the flexors of the fingers.
• Composed of 5 annular
ligaments + 3 cruciform
ligaments
• To hold the underlying tendons
at a fixed distance to the
phalanges
• Gliding mechanism of long
flexors
Class III
The joint serves as the pulley.
A. The size of the epicondyles
of the femur gives the
gracilis tendon a favorable
angle of insertion as the
tendon insert on the tibia.
B. The middle part of the
deltoid as it passes over the
shoulder joint.
CLASS IV
The muscle acts as a pulley the muscle is its own pulley
A. As the biceps muscle increases in size, its angle of
insertion will increase.
The muscle underneath acts
as pulley for another muscle,
which passes over it
B. Brachialis m/s will raise the
biceps giving it a better angle of
insertion. For this to be
effective, the overriding m/s
must not have the same
insertion as the bulky m/s
REFERENCES:
[Link] principles of exercise
[Link].4th edition.
[Link] clinical kinesiology
