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Quantitative Elastosonography of the Myotendinous Junction: Normal Behavior and Correlation With a Standard Measurement System During Functional Tests
Author(s) -
Minafra Paolo,
Bortolotto Chandra,
Rampinini Ermanno,
Calliada Fabrizio,
Monetti Giuseppe
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of ultrasound in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1550-9613
pISSN - 0278-4297
DOI - 10.7863/ultra.15.11023
Subject(s) - medicine , rectus femoris muscle , contraction (grammar) , elasticity (physics) , ultrasound , anatomy , thigh , muscle contraction , mean value , nuclear medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , electromyography , mathematics , statistics , radiology , physics , thermodynamics
Objectives In recent years, an increasing need to use imaging to assess normal and adaptive muscle function, in addition to its anatomy and structure, has emerged. We evaluated the myotendinous junction's elastosonographic behavior in light of the most recent literature on its physiologic behavior. The elastosonographic studies were compared with the results obtained from a standard measurement system to ensure a correlation with maximal muscle contraction. Methods Nineteen male professional soccer players were assessed during functional tests. The participants performed 5 repetitions at 60°/s to assess muscle strength and 3 repetitions at 30°/s to assess the maximum force peak of thigh muscles. The participants were monitored by a strength‐power measurement system and an ultrasound machine equipped with multifrequency (18–6‐MHz) linear array transducers. Results The 19 soccer players were aged between 19 and 34 years (mean age, 28 years). For the right rectus femoris, the results of the elastosonographic studies showed a mean elasticity value ± SD of 30.75% ± 10.05% with the muscle relaxed and a value of 13.75% ± 8.44% during contraction (mean decrease, 17.00% ± 11.71%). Elasticity values were 36.48% ± 8.39% before contraction and 8.77% ± 6.55% during contraction of the left rectus femoris muscle (mean decrease, 27.71% ± 11.95%). For 30° eccentric contraction of the left leg, correlation with the standard measurement system showed Pearson r values of −0.53 and −0.51 when comparing force peak and mean work, respectively, with elasticity values. Conclusions Our study shows that strain elastosonographic quantification of muscle elasticity seems to match the expected physiologic and biomechanical behavior of the myotendinous junction.