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Relationship between shear elastic modulus and passive force of the human rectus femoris at multiple sites: a Thiel soft-embalmed cadaver study

  • Original Article–Physics & Engineering
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Estimation of muscle passive force from elasticity using shear wave elastography (SWE) has been reported. However, the relationship between the elasticity and passive force of human muscles has not been elucidated. This study investigated the elastic modulus–passive force relationship in human skeletal muscles at multiple sites.

Methods

Four rectus femoris (RF) muscles were dissected from a human Thiel-embalmed cadaver. Calibration weights (0–600 g in 60-g increments) were applied to the distal tendon via a pulley system, and the shear elastic modulus as an index of elasticity was measured using SWE. The shear elastic modulus of the RF was measured at the proximal, central, and distal portions.

Results

The results demonstrated that the relationships between the elasticity in the longitudinal direction of the muscle and the passive force were nearly linear for all tested sites, with coefficients of determination ranging from 0.813 to 0.993.

Conclusion

Shear wave elastography may be used as an indirect method to measure the changing passive force at any site within human muscles.

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Data availability

The datasets during and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant number JP 18K10715.

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant number JP 18K10715.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan

    Taiki Kodesho & Takuya Kato

  2. Second Division of Physical Therapy, School of Health Sciences, Sapporo Medical University, West 17, South 1, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

    Keigo Taniguchi, Kota Watanabe & Masaki Katayose

  3. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan

    Takuya Kato

  4. Second Division of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan

    Shougo Mizoguchi & Mineko Fujimiya

  5. Faculty of Science and Technology, Gunma University, Kiryu, Japan

    Yoshiki Yamakoshi

Authors
  1. Taiki Kodesho
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  2. Keigo Taniguchi
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  3. Takuya Kato
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  4. Shougo Mizoguchi
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  5. Yoshiki Yamakoshi
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  6. Kota Watanabe
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  7. Mineko Fujimiya
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  8. Masaki Katayose
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Contributions

TK and KT conceived and designed the study. YY, KW, MF, and MK were involved in the research design. TK, KT, TK, SM, and MF conducted the experiments. TK, KT, and TK analyzed the data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TK. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keigo Taniguchi.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethical statements

All experimental protocols were approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee at Sapporo Medical University (Approval number: 30-2-26).

Ethics approval

All experimental protocols were approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee at Sapporo Medical University (Approval number: 30–2-26).

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Kodesho, T., Taniguchi, K., Kato, T. et al. Relationship between shear elastic modulus and passive force of the human rectus femoris at multiple sites: a Thiel soft-embalmed cadaver study. J Med Ultrasonics 48, 115–121 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-020-01076-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-020-01076-w

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