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Structure, Function, and Control of the Musculoskeletal Network

The human body is a complex organism whose gross mechanical properties are enabled by an interconnected musculoskeletal network controlled by the nervous system. The nature of musculoskeletal interconnection facilitates stability, voluntary movement, and robustness to injury. However, a fundamental understanding of this network and its control by neural systems has remained elusive. Here we utilize medical databases and mathematical modeling to reveal the organizational structure, predicted function, and neural control of the musculoskeletal system. We construct a whole-body musculoskeletal network in which single muscles connect to multiple bones via both origin and insertion points. We demonstrate that a muscle's role in this network predicts susceptibility of surrounding components to secondary injury. Finally, we illustrate that sets of muscles cluster into network communities that mimic the organization of motor cortex control modules. This novel formalism for describing interactions between the muscular and skeletal systems serves as a foundation to develop and test therapeutic responses to injury, inspiring future advances in clinical treatments.