Search results for "muscle architecture"

Distinct muscle-tendon interaction during running at different speeds and in different loading conditions

2019

The interaction between the Achilles tendon and the triceps surae muscles seems to be modulated differently with various task configurations. Here we tested the hypothesis that the increased forces and ankle joint work during running under contrasting conditions (altered speed or load) would be met by different, time-dependent adjustments at the muscle-tendon level. Ultrasonography, electromyography, kinematics, and ground reaction force measurements were used to examine Achilles tendon, gastrocnemius, and soleus muscle mechanics in 16 runners in four different running conditions, consisting of a combination of two different speeds (preferred and +20% of preferred speed) and two loading con…

2019

Muscle architecture is an important component of muscle function, and recent studies have shown changes in muscle architecture with fatigue. The stretch-shortening cycle is a natural way to study human locomotion, but little is known about how muscle architecture is affected by this type of exercise. This study investigated potential changes in medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle architecture after exhaustive stretch-shortening cycle exercise. Male athletes (n = 10) performed maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) and maximal drop jump (DJ) tests before and after an exercise task consisting of 100 maximal DJs followed by successive rebound jumping to 70% of the initial maximal height. The exerci…

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN BICEPS FEMORIS FASCICLE LENGTH AND PENNATION ANGLE AFTER A SIMULATED SOCCER MATCH

2017

Background Hamstring Strain Injuries (HSIs) represent 12% of all injuries in soccer players, and their incidence has increased in recent years. Between 53%-84% of HSIs involve the Biceps femoris muscle (BF). Recent studies have shown that soccer players with shorter BF fascicle length (FL) suffer more HSIs and exhibit regional differences in FL and pennation angle (PA) along BF. It is unclear whether there is any regional difference in the degree of change of these parameters after a soccer match. Objective Describe changes in BF muscle architecture after a simulated soccer match. Design Controlled laboratory study. Pre and Post single session. Setting Laboratory. Amateur Level. Participant…

Increased fascicle length but not patellar tendon stiffness after accentuated eccentric-load strength training in already-trained men

2020

Purpose This study examined whether additional external load during the eccentric phase of lower limb strength training exercises led to greater adaptations in knee extensor strength, muscle architecture, and patellar tendon properties than traditional concentric–eccentric training in already-trained men. Methods Twenty-eight men accustomed to strength training were randomized to undertake 10 weeks of supervised traditional (TRAD) or accentuated eccentric loading (AEL) or continue their habitual unsupervised (CON) strength training. TRAD and AEL trained 2∙week−1 with a six-repetition maximum (RM) session and a ten-RM session. TRAD used the same external load in both concentric and eccentric…

DL_Track : Automated analysis of muscle architecture from B-mode ultrasonography images using deep learning

2023

B-mode ultrasound is commonly used to image musculoskeletal tissues, but one major bottleneck is data analysis. Manual analysis is commonly deployed for assessment of muscle thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length in muscle ultrasonography images. However, manual analysis is somewhat subjective, laborious and requires thorough experience. We provide an openly available algorithm (DL_Track) to automatically analyze muscle architectural parameters in ultrasonography images or videos of human lower limb muscles.
 We trained two different neural networks (classic U-net [Ronneberger et al., 2021] and U-net with VGG16 [Simonyan & Zisserman, 2015] pretrained encoder) one to detect …

How does a simulated soccer match affect regional differences in biceps femoris muscle architecture?

2017

Soccer is played by thousands of athletes across the globe and its participation increases the overall risk of injury, in particular, hamstring strain injuries (HSI). Biceps femoris (BF) has been shown to be involved the in 5 out of 6 HSI cases and risk factors including fatigue and short BF fascicle length (FL) have been identified. Furthermore, previous studies suggest that different muscle regions may undergo different strains during dynamic tasks, which could contribute to injury risk. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a soccer match on regional differences in the BF muscle architecture. A secondary aim was to assess the reliability of the extended field of vi…