Objective To investigate effects of pressure and tail suspension on the growth of rat skeletal muscles by establishing the tail-suspended rat model and pressure-induced rat model, respectively. Methods Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: the control-group (CON), the tail-suspended group (SUS), the pressure group (PRE), and each group was undergoing two stages (7, 14 d) for observation. At the end of the experiment, the muscle wet weight/body weight (Mww/Bw), muscle fiber cross-sectional area (MFCSA), muscle fiber diameter (MFD) of soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and the IGF-1 concentration were measured, respectively. Results For both the SUS group and PRE group with 7 d, their Mww/Bw, MFCSA and MFD of soleus were significantly reduced (P<0.05) as compared to the CON group, which were reduced by 23.52%, 14.26%, 13.47% in PRE group, respectively, while these indexes in SUS group were reduced by 23.52%, 33.07%, 25.09%, respectively. Meanwhile, the decrease of Mww/Bw, MFCSA and MFD in PRE group with 14 d was reduced by 20.51%, -10.49%, -5.73%, respectively, which was less than that in PRE group with 7 d. However, the decrease of Mww/Bw in SUS group with 14 d reached 46.15%, showing significantly higher than that of the SUS group with 7 d. For the IGF-1 concentration and EDL changes, no remarkable differences were found among the CON, PRE and SUS groups. Conclusions The impact of pressure on the process of soleus growth is different from that of the suspension (disuse). During the early stage of pressure application, the deep tissue injury mainly with inflammatory responses can be found in the muscle. When the muscle cells adapt to the pressure environment, they may produce a functional adaptation to growth. Therefore, such effect of socket pressure on skeletal muscle should be considered in clinic for prosthetic socket design or rehabilitation training, which will help protect the muscle tissues.