Ultrasonographic Measurement of Neck Muscle Recruitment: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Chronic cervical pain is a common source of disability in society, and evidence suggests that individuals with neck pain have impairment of the deep cervical fl exor (DCF) muscles. Th is study investigated the recruitment pattern of the neck muscles, particularly the DCF, during the Craniocervical Flexion Test (CCFT), using ultrasound measurement of muscle activity in asymptomatic subjects. In a cross-sectional design, 10 subjects, of both sexes, with no history of neck pain participated in the study. Participants were instructed to perform the CCFT, and changes in thickness from resting baseline values during the fi ve incremental stages of the test were obtained for DCF and sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles using ultrasonography. Th e most signifi cant changes found in DCF thickness were between phase 1 and phases 4 (p<0.001) and 5 (p= <0.001). For SCM, diff erences were most signifi cant between phases 1 and 3 (p<0.001), 4 (p<0.001), and 5 (p<0.001); and between phases 3 and 5 (p<0.003). No diff erences were found between DCF and SCM muscles. Th e present study confi rms the evidence that CCFT increases DCF recruitment. However, the ultrasonography test protocol did not identify diff erences in recruitment between deep and superfi cial neck muscles. Th e present study confi rms the evidence that the CCFT challenges the cervical spine and that DCF activity is increased during this maneuver.

A tissue velocity ultrasound imaging investigation of the dorsal neck muscles during resisted isometric extension

“…Traditional grey scale ultrasound, which has been used in previous studies of neck muscles (Rezasoltani et al, 1998(Rezasoltani et al, , 1999(Rezasoltani et al, , 2002Kristjansson, 2004;Rankin et al, 2005;Fernández-De-Las-Peñas et al, 2008;Jesus et al, 2008;Lee et al, 2009), provides information about anatomical landmarks and structural information about the tissue. Dorsal (Lee et al, 2007(Lee et al, , 2009) and ventral (Jesus et al, 2008) neck muscles have been studied using changes in muscle thickness or cross-sectional area (CSA) as an indication of muscle activity. Lee et al (2007Lee et al ( , 2009) studied the CSA of the multifidus muscle during rest and isometric head extension, finding that ultrasound can detect changes in multifidus during contraction, with acceptable reliability.…”

Tissue motion pattern of ventral neck muscles investigated by tissue velocity ultrasonography imaging

“…Previous authors (Conley et al 1995;Falla et al 2004a, c;2007a;Jesus et al 2008;Jull et al 2004a;O"Leary et al 2007) often referred to Lco and Lca as "deep ventral neck muscles" and analysed the two together as one entity. In the present paper, the synergists Lco and Lca emerge as having different tissue motions, indicating different activation patterns.…”

“…Traditional US (using the grey-scale technique), which was used in earlier studies of ventral neck muscles (Cagnie et al 2009;Jesus et al 2008), provides information about anatomical landmarks, giving data about the structure of the tissue, fascicle length, and pennation angle (Blazevich et al 2006;Chino et al 2008;Fukunaga et al 1997;Kawakami et al 2006;Narici 1999;Oda et al 2007). Muscle deformation in ventral neck muscles (Cagnie et al 2009;Jesus et al 2008) has been studied during measurement of the change in cross-sectional area (CSA)/muscle thickness during rest and contraction.…”

“…Muscle deformation in ventral neck muscles (Cagnie et al 2009;Jesus et al 2008) has been studied during measurement of the change in cross-sectional area (CSA)/muscle thickness during rest and contraction.…”

“…Functional (T2-weighted) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Cagnie et al 2008;Conley et al 1995), computerized tomography (CT) (Mayoux-Benhamou et al 1994), and ultrasonography (US) (Cagnie et al 2009;Jesus et al 2008) have been used to study differences in signal activity or tissue deformations. With EMG, deep ventral neck muscles have been investigated invasively by surface electrodes inserted via the nose and fixed to the posterior mucosa of the oropharynx, which "indirectly" captures signals of interest from Lco and Lca, with some risk of cross-talk from other muscles.…”