Validity of fascicle length estimation in the vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius using ultrasonography

Ryosuke Ando; Keigo Taniguchi; Akira Saito; Mineko Fujimiya; Masaki Katayose; Hiroshi Akima

doi:10.1016/j.jelekin.2014.01.003

Validity of fascicle length estimation in the vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius using ultrasonography

J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2014 Apr;24(2):214-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2014.01.003. Epub 2014 Jan 15.

Authors

Ryosuke Ando¹, Keigo Taniguchi², Akira Saito³, Mineko Fujimiya⁴, Masaki Katayose², Hiroshi Akima⁵

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University, Japan. Electronic address: ando@nagoya-u.jp.
² School of Health Science, Sapporo Medical University, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan.
⁴ School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Japan.
⁵ Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University, Japan; Research Center of Health, Physical Fitness & Sports, Nagoya University, Japan. Electronic address: akima@nagoya-u.jp.

PMID: 24485560
DOI: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2014.01.003

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of fascicle length estimation in the vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus intermedius (VI) using ultrasonography. The fascicle lengths of the VL and VI muscles were measured directly (dFL) using calipers, and were estimated (estmFL) using ultrasonography, in 10 legs from five Thiel's embalmed cadavers. To determine the validity of the estmFLs, FL was estimated using five previously published models and compared with dFL. The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of two of the five models were>0.75, indicating that these estimates were valid. Both of these models combined measurement of the length of the visible part of the fascicle with linear extrapolation of the length of the part of the fascicle that was not visible on the sonographic image. The ICCs and absolute% difference were best in models that used appropriate pennation angles. These results suggest that two of the five previously published models are valid for obtaining estmFL of the VL and VI using ultrasonography.

Keywords: Cadaver; Fascicle length; Skeletal muscle; Ultrasonography; Vastus intermedius.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cadaver
Female
Humans
Leg / diagnostic imaging*
Leg / physiology*
Male
Muscle, Skeletal / diagnostic imaging*
Muscle, Skeletal / physiology*
Quadriceps Muscle
Reproducibility of Results
Ultrasonography