Changes in Muscle Hardness from Resting to Mid-Range Lengthened Positions Detected by Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) with a Novel Protocol of Ultrasound Probe Placement

Muscle hardness and its relationship with different muscle lengths/positions are important for understanding its underlying physiological status, and yet remained unclear. This study aimed to detect the local muscle hardness at different muscle lengths and identify the influence of muscle position o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2021-01, Vol.11 (1), p.452
Main Authors: Ren, Long-Jun, Cheng, Connie Lok-Kan, Ma, Christina Zong-Hao, Zheng, Yong-Ping
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
ageing muscle
Ankle
Correlation coefficient
Correlation coefficients
elastography
Extremities
Hardness
Measurement techniques
Muscle contraction
muscle hardness
Muscles
Musculoskeletal system
Reliability analysis
Scanners
shear wave elastography (SWE)
Skeletal muscle
slack length
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasonic testing
Ultrasound
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Muscle hardness and its relationship with different muscle lengths/positions are important for understanding its underlying physiological status, and yet remained unclear. This study aimed to detect the local muscle hardness at different muscle lengths and identify the influence of muscle position on muscle hardness in healthy adults. A total of 26 healthy adults participated in this study. Shear wave elastography (SWE) was used to measure the muscle hardness of the Rectus Femoris (RF), Tibialis Anterior (TA) and Gastrocnemius Medialis (GM). Each muscle was tested at both resting (RST) and mid-range lengthened (MRL) positions. A novel ultrasound probe placing method was introduced, applied, and evaluated in this study. Moderate to excellent intra-/inter-rater reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, ICC ≥ 0.70) was found for muscle hardness measurements. The muscle hardness significantly increased from the RST to MRL position for all three muscles (p < 0.001). This study found that the muscle hardness increased at its mid-range lengthened position from the resting position. The mid-range lengthened muscle position of TA and GM could also be sensitive enough to reflect the age-related changes in local muscle hardness. This study also highlights the importance of placing the assessed extremities in an appropriate and consistent position when assessing muscle qualities by ultrasonics in clinical practice.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11010452