Thickness of the lower trapezius and serratus anterior using ultrasound imaging during a repeated arm lifting task

Effect of Exercise Position on Percent Changes in Serratus Anterior Muscle Thickness

“…This percent increase in thickness is similar to previous studies on healthy individuals [16][17][18][19]21]. Therefore, the consistency in the percent change in muscle thickness measures of the SA in our study and previous studies provides valuable normative reference data for future studies.…”

“…Two studies found no differences in healthy individuals when adding various loads to the UE in scaption at both 90 degrees [16], and 120 degrees of elevation [18]. However, increasing loads during upper extremity elevation does not appears to effect EMG activity of the serratus anterior [20] and therefore, may explain why no changes in the SA thickness were observed between loads using diagnostic ultrasound imaging.…”

“…UI has been shown to be a valid and reliable assessment tool for measuring thickness and cross sectional areas of the transversus abdominus, obliques [11] A few studies have investigated muscle thickness measures of the SA in both healthy [16][17][18] and pathological populations [19]. In general, between and within day intra-rater reliability measuring SA thickness has been shown to be good to excellent in health individuals positioned in glenohumeral scaption [16,17]. Only one study has investigated inter rater reliability of SA thickness and the results were modest to poor [17].…”

“…One other study has investigated SA muscle thickness in patients with LE compared to controls. Preliminarily and with a small sample size, it appears that UI was able to detect significant differences in the change of muscle thickness from rest to contraction when comparing patients to controls but the mean differences were not beyond minimal detectable change values [16]. Another manuscript by Seitz et al, reported no significant differences in SA muscle thickness in health individuals with and without observable scapular dyskinesia [21].…”

“…Unlike other assessment tools, Ultrasound Imaging (UI) provides isolated real time visualization of muscle contraction, thus allowing researchers and clinicians quick interpretation of the contraction of a specific muscle [9,10]. UI has been shown to be a valid and reliable assessment tool for measuring thickness and cross sectional areas of the transversus abdominus, obliques [11] A few studies have investigated muscle thickness measures of the SA in both healthy [16][17][18] and pathological populations [19]. In general, between and within day intra-rater reliability measuring SA thickness has been shown to be good to excellent in health individuals positioned in glenohumeral scaption [16,17].…”