Information from dynamic length changes improves reliability of static ultrasound fascicle length measurements

Aeles, Jeroen; Lichtwark, Glen A.; Lenchant, Sietske; Vanlommel, Liesbeth; Delabastita, Tijs; Vanwanseele, Benedicte

doi:10.7717/peerj.4164

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The efficacy of this is demonstrated by the very strong agreement between manual and automatic measurements (CMC > 0.94) and low RMES for fascicle length (RMSE = 3.31 ± 1.53 mm) and pennation angle RMSE = 4.12° ± 1.98°). The improvement of tracking due to supervision is supported by the work of Aeles et al (2017) where they observed that providing examiners with the ability to watch the video prior to fascicle identification improved the reliability of fascicle identification.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…In our data, we did not observe very much fascicle curvature, even in fully contracted state. Fascicles in the gastrocnemius do not curve as much as fascicles in other muscles such as the vastus medialis (Gillett, Barrett & Lichtwark, 2013) or the biceps femoris (Seymore et al, 2017; Aeles et al, 2017). If significant amount of fascicle curvature is observed, we suggest that users exercise judgment as to whether this straight-line approximation is valid.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1E). Aeles et al (2017) showed that watching ultrasound videos of fascicle shortening increased the reliability of manual fascicle identification relative to static images. During supervision, the examiner watched the tracked trial following program initialization, which provided information regarding fascicle geometry that was not apparent in the static first frame as well as allowed the examiner to evaluate the quality of the tracking.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An automatic fascicle tracking algorithm quantifying gastrocnemius architecture during maximal effort contractions

Drazan¹,

Hullfish²,

Baxter³

2019

PeerJ

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Background Ultrasound has become a commonly used imaging modality for making dynamic measurements of muscle structure during functional movements in biomechanical studies. Manual measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle are time intensive which limits the clinical utility of this approach while also limiting sample sizes in research. The purpose of this study was to develop an automatic fascicle tracking program to quantify the length and pennation angle of a muscle fascicle during maximal effort voluntary contractions and to evaluate its repeatability between days and reproducibility between different examiners. Methods Five healthy adults performed maximal effort isometric and isokinetic contractions at 30, 120, 210, and 500 degrees per second about their ankle on an isokinetic dynamometer while their medial gastrocnemius muscle was observed using ultrasound. Individual muscle fascicles and the two aponeuroses were identified by the user in the first frame and automatically tracked by the algorithm by three observers on three separate days. Users also made manual measurements of the candidate fascicle for validation. Repeatability within examiners across days and reproducibility across examiners and days were evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Agreement between manual and automatic tracking was evaluated using the coefficient of multiple correlations (CMC) and root-mean-square error. Supervised automatic tracking, where the program could be reinitialized if poor tracking was observed, was performed on all videos by one examiner to evaluate the performance of automatic tracking in a typical use case. We also compared the performance our program to a preexisting automatic tracking program. Results We found both manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle to be strongly repeatable within examiners and strongly reproducible across examiners and days (ICCs > 0.74). There was greater agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length than pennation angle, however the mean CMC value was found to be strong in both cases (CMC > 0.8). Supervision of automatic tracking showed very strong agreement between manual and automatic measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle (CMC > 0.94). It also had considerably less error relative to the preexisting automatic tracking program. Conclusions We have developed a novel automatic fascicle tracking algorithm that quantifies fascicle length and pennation angle of individual muscle fascicles during dynamic contractions during isometric and across a range of isokinetic velocities. We demonstrated that this fascicle tracking algorithm is strongly repeatable and reproducible across different examiners and different days and showed strong agreement with manual measurements, especially when tracking is supervised by the user so that tracking can be reinitialized if poor tracking quality is observed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An automatic fascicle tracking algorithm quantifying gastrocnemius architecture during maximal effort contractions

Drazan¹,

Hullfish²,

Baxter³

2019

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hence, this method only holds true when the muscle fascicles act in the same 2D plane as our ultrasound image. However, good reliability and accuracy has been proven previously (1,2,48).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of habitual foot-strike pattern on the gastrocnemius medialis muscle-tendon interaction and muscle force production during running

Swinnen

Hoogkamer

Delabastita

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Physiology

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The interaction between gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle and Achilles tendon, i.e., muscle-tendon unit (MTU) interaction, plays an important role in minimizing the metabolic cost of running. Foot-strike pattern (FSP) has been suggested to alter MTU interaction and subsequently the metabolic cost of running. However, metabolic data from experimental studies on FSP are inconsistent, and a comparison of MTU interaction between FSP is still lacking. We, therefore, investigated the effect of habitual rearfoot and mid-/forefoot striking on MTU interaction, ankle joint work, and plantar flexor muscle force production while running at 10 and 14 km/h. GM muscle fascicles of 9 rearfoot and 10 mid-/forefoot strikers were tracked using dynamic ultrasonography during treadmill running. We collected kinetic and kinematic data and used musculoskeletal models to determine joint angles and calculate MTU lengths. In addition, we used dynamic optimization to assess plantar flexor muscle forces. During ground contact, GM fascicle shortening ( P = 0.02) and average contraction velocity ( P = 0.01) were 40–45% greater in rearfoot strikers than mid-/forefoot strikers. Differences in contraction velocity were especially prominent during early ground contact. Moreover, GM ( P = 0.02) muscle force was greater during early ground contact in mid-/forefoot strikers than rearfoot strikers. Interestingly, we did not find differences in stretch or recoil of the series elastic element between FSP. Our results suggest that, for the GM, the reduced muscle energy cost associated with lower fascicle contraction velocity in mid-/forefoot strikers may be counteracted by greater muscle forces during early ground contact. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Kinetic and kinematic differences between foot-strike patterns during running imply (not previously reported) altered muscle-tendon interaction. Here, we studied muscle-tendon interaction using ultrasonography. We found greater fascicle contraction velocities and lower muscle forces in rearfoot compared with mid-/forefoot strikers. Our results suggest that the higher metabolic energy demand due to greater fascicle contraction velocities might offset the lower metabolic energy demand due to lower muscle forces in rearfoot compared with mid-/forefoot strikers.

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“…Another possible reason for this offset is the variability in fascicle segmentation on the first image of each ultrasound scanning sequence. A recent analysis of the reliability of fascicle tracking ( Aeles et al, 2017 ) found good reliability for the analysis of fascicle length changes but also pointed at the more variable segmentation of the initial image, rendering the comparison of absolute lengths more challenging. However, in the present study, the same investigator (AW) analyzed all images in a random order and the fact that no differences in fascicle length at touch down were found in the control group support these findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Training-Induced Changes in Achilles Tendon Stiffness on Muscle–Tendon Behavior During Landing

et al. 2018

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During rapid deceleration of the body, tendons buffer part of the elongation of the muscle–tendon unit (MTU), enabling safe energy dissipation via eccentric muscle contraction. Yet, the influence of changes in tendon stiffness within the physiological range upon these lengthening contractions is unknown. This study aimed to examine the effect of training-induced stiffening of the Achilles tendon on triceps surae muscle–tendon behavior during a landing task. Twenty-one male subjects were assigned to either a 10-week resistance-training program consisting of single-leg isometric plantarflexion (n = 11) or to a non-training control group (n = 10). Before and after the training period, plantarflexion force, peak Achilles tendon strain and stiffness were measured during isometric contractions, using a combination of dynamometry, ultrasound and kinematics data. Additionally, testing included a step-landing task, during which joint mechanics and lengths of gastrocnemius and soleus fascicles, Achilles tendon, and MTU were determined using synchronized ultrasound, kinematics and kinetics data collection. After training, plantarflexion strength and Achilles tendon stiffness increased (15 and 18%, respectively), and tendon strain during landing remained similar. Likewise, lengthening and negative work produced by the gastrocnemius MTU did not change detectably. However, in the training group, gastrocnemius fascicle length was offset (8%) to a longer length at touch down and, surprisingly, fascicle lengthening and velocity were reduced by 27 and 21%, respectively. These changes were not observed for soleus fascicles when accounting for variation in task execution between tests. These results indicate that a training-induced increase in tendon stiffness does not noticeably affect the buffering action of the tendon when the MTU is rapidly stretched. Reductions in gastrocnemius fascicle lengthening and lengthening velocity during landing occurred independently from tendon strain. Future studies are required to provide insight into the mechanisms underpinning these observations and their influence on energy dissipation.

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Information from dynamic length changes improves reliability of static ultrasound fascicle length measurements

Cited by 11 publications

References 41 publications

An automatic fascicle tracking algorithm quantifying gastrocnemius architecture during maximal effort contractions

An automatic fascicle tracking algorithm quantifying gastrocnemius architecture during maximal effort contractions

Effect of habitual foot-strike pattern on the gastrocnemius medialis muscle-tendon interaction and muscle force production during running

Effect of Training-Induced Changes in Achilles Tendon Stiffness on Muscle–Tendon Behavior During Landing

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