title: Reliability of Abdominal Muscle Stiffness Measured Using Elastography during Trunk Rehabilitation Exercises.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the intra-session and inter-rater reliability of shear modulus measured in abdominal muscles during two commonly used trunk stability exercises. Thirty healthy volunteers performed a series of abdominal hollow and abdominal brace tasks. Supersonic shear imaging was used to measure the shear modulus (considered an index of muscle tension) of the four anterior trunk muscles: obliquus externus abdominis, obliquus internus abdominis, transversus abdominis and rectus abdominis. Because of measurement artifacts, internus abdominis and transversus abdominis data were not analyzed for 36.7% and 26.7% of the participants, respectively. These participants exhibited thicker superficial fat layers than the others. For the remaining participants, fair to excellent intra-session and inter-rater reliability was observed with moderate to high intra-class coefficients (0.45-0.97) and low to moderate standard error of measurement values (0.38-3.53 kPa). Reliability values were consistently greater for superficial than for deeper muscles.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McPhee
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Kylie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; Laboratory "Movement, Interactions, Performance" (EA 4334), UFR STAPS, University of Nantes, Nantes, France. Electronic address: francois.hug@univ-nantes.fr.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hug
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D055119:Elastic Modulus / Q000502:physiology; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D064797:Physical Conditioning, Human / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D060726:Torso
keywords: Electromyography; Physiotherapy; Shear modulus; Shear wave elastography; Ultrasound