Investigating the Reliability of the Measurement of the Cervical Muscle’s Echo Intensity
Abstract
Introduction: The skeletal muscle’s echo intensity (EI) is a measurement that can be used to assess the quality of the muscle and any muscle damage caused by training or activity. To determine its reliability, a limited number of studies have investigated the measurement of cervical muscles’ EI. This study determines whether the EI of the cervical muscles can be reliably quantified using the Adobe Photoshop software.
Materials and Methods: The mean EI of the cervical muscles was measured using the standard histogram function of Adobe Photoshop CS6 in 20 healthy women.
Results: The measurement of EI of cervical muscles using Adobe Photoshop CS6 is reliable in healthy women (intra-class coefficient >0.9). The values of the standard error of measurements of longus coli, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapula, semispinalis capitis, rectus capitis posterior, and oblique capitis superior muscles were 1.81, 2.09, 1.46, 2.02, 1.47 and 1.26, respectively. The values of the smallest detectable difference of longus coli, sternocleidomastoid, levator scapula, semispinalis capitis, rectus capitis posterior, and oblique capitis superior muscles were 7.11, 8.22, 5.74, 7.93, 5.79, and 4.97, respectively.
Conclusion: Assessing the EI of the cervical muscles with Adobe Photoshop software is a viable method to determine the quality of the muscles.
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14. Sarafraz H, Hadian MR, Ayoobi Yazdi N, Olyaei G, Bagheri H, Jalaie S, et al. Test-retest reliability of nerve and muscle morphometric characteristics utilizing ultrasound imaging in individuals with unilateral sciatica and controls. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2018; 26:47. [DOI:10.1186/s12998-018-0215-x] [PMID]
15. Lanferdini FJ, Manganelli BF, Lopez P, Klein KD, Cadore EL, Vaz MA. Echo intensity reliability for the analysis of different muscle areas in athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2019; 33(12):3353-60. [DOI:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003063] [PMID]
16. Fleiss JL. Design and analysis of clinical experiments. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons; 2011. [Link]
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18. Javanshir K, Rezasoltani A, Mohseni-Bandpei MA, Amiri M, Ortega-Santiago R, Fernández-De-Las-Peñas C. Ultrasound assessment of bilateral longus colli muscles in subjects with chronic bilateral neck pain. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. 2011; 90(4):293-301. [DOI:10.1097/PHM.0b013e31820173e5] [PMID]
19. Bokaee F, Rezasoltani A, Manshadi FD, Naimi SS, Baghban AA, Azimi H. Comparison of cervical muscle thickness between asymptomatic women with and without forward head posture. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2017; 21(3):206-11. [DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2017.04.003] [PMID]
20. Watanabe Y, Yamada Y, Fukumoto Y, Ishihara T, Yokoyama K, Yoshida T, et al. Echo intensity obtained from ultrasonography images reflecting muscle strength in elderly men. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2013; 8:993-8. [DOI:10.2147/CIA.S47263] [PMID]
21. Watanabe Y, Ikenaga M, Yoshimura E, Yamada Y, Kimura M. Association between echo intensity and attenuation of skeletal muscle in young and older adults: A comparison between ultrasonography and computed tomography. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2018; 13:1871-8. [DOI:10.2147/CIA.S173372] [PMID]
22. Karmakar MK, Li X, Kwok WH, Ho AM, Ngan Kee WD. Sonoanatomy relevant for ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach in the lumbar region. The British Journal of Radiology. 2012; 85(1015):e262-9. [DOI:10.1259/bjr/93508121] [PMID]
23. Bokaee F, Rezasoltani A, Manshadi FD, Naimi SS. Ultrasound echo intensity of cervical muscles in women with and without forward head posture.Cranio: The Journal of Craniomandibular Practice. 2022; 40(3):232-8. [DOI:10.1080/08869634.2020.1750806] [PMID]
24. Akagi R, Suzuki M, Kawaguchi E, Miyamoto N, Yamada Y, Ema R. Muscle size-strength relationship including ultrasonographic echo intensity and voluntary activation level of a muscle group. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2018; 75:185-90. [DOI:10.1016/j.archger.2017.12.012] [PMID]
25. O’Sullivan C, Bentman S, Bennett K, Stokes M. Rehabilitative ultrasound imaging of the lower trapezius muscle: Technical description and reliability. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2007; 37(10):620-6. [DOI:10.2519/jospt.2007.2446] [PMID]
26. Rezasoltani A, Ahmadi A, Jafarigol A, Vihko V. The reliability of measuring neck muscle strength with a neck muscle force measurement device. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. 2003; 15(1):7-12. [DOI:10.1589/jpts.15.7]
2. Taniguchi M, Yamada Y, Fukumoto Y, Sawano S, Minami S, Ikezoe T, et al. Increase in echo intensity and extracellular-to-intracellular water ratio is independently associated with muscle weakness in elderly women. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2017; 117(10):2001-7. [DOI:10.1007/s00421-017-3686-x] [PMID]
3. Valera-Calero JA, Arias-Buría JL, Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Cleland JA, Gallego-Sendarrubias GM, Cimadevilla-Fernandez-Pola E. Echo-intensity and fatty infiltration ultrasound imaging measurement of cervical multifidus and short rotators in healthy people: A reliability study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice. 2021; 53:102335. [PMID]
4. Rosenberg JG, Ryan ED, Sobolewski EJ, Scharville MJ, Thompson BJ, King GE. Reliability of panoramic ultrasound imaging to simultaneously examine muscle size and quality of the medial gastrocnemius. Muscle & Nerve. 2014; 49(5):736-40. [DOI:10.1002/mus.24061] [PMID]
5. Vieira A, Siqueira AF, Ferreira-Junior JB, Pereira P, Wagner D, Bottaro M. Ultrasound imaging in women’s arm flexor muscles: intra-rater reliability of muscle thickness and echo intensity. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2016; 20(6):535-542. [DOI:10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0186] [PMID]
6. Chantaramanee A, Tohara H, Nakagawa K, Hara K, Nakane A, Yamaguchi K, et al. Association between echo intensity of the tongue and its thickness and function in elderly subjects. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. 2019; 46(7):634-9. [DOI:10.1111/joor.12788] [PMID]
7. Stock MS, Thompson BJ. Echo intensity as an indicator of skeletal muscle quality: Applications, methodology, and future directions. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2021; 121(2):369-80. [DOI:10.1007/s00421-020-04556-6] [PMID]
8. Bali AU, Harmon KK, Burton AM, Phan DC, Mercer NE, Lawless NW, et al. Muscle strength, not age, explains unique variance in echo intensity. Experimental Gerontology. 2020; 139:111047. [DOI:10.1016/j.exger.2020.111047] [PMID]
9. Mota JA, Giuliani HK, Gerstner GR, Ryan ED. The rate of velocity development associates with muscle echo intensity, but not muscle cross-sectional area in older men. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research. 2018; 30(7):861-5. [DOI:10.1007/s40520-017-0829-1] [PMID]
10. Damas F, Phillips SM, Lixandrão ME, Vechin FC, Libardi CA, Roschel H, et al. Early resistance training-induced increases in muscle cross-sectional area are concomitant with edema-induced muscle swelling. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2016; 116(1):49-56. [DOI:10.1007/s00421-015-3243-4] [PMID]
11. Stock MS, Mota JA, DeFranco RN, Grue KA, Jacobo A, Chung E, et al. The time course of short-term hypertrophy in the absence of eccentric muscle damage. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2017; 117(5):989-1004. [DOI:10.1007/s00421-017-3587-z] [PMID]
12. MacLennan RJ, Sahebi M, Becker N, Davis E, Garcia JM, Stock MS. Declines in skeletal muscle quality vs. size following two weeks of knee joint immobilization. PeerJ. 2020; 8:e8224. [DOI:10.7717/peerj.8224] [PMID]
13. Ahmadipoor A, Khademi-Kalantari K, Rezasoltani A, Naimi SS, Akbarzadeh-Baghban A. Assessing the reliability of echo intensity of craniovertebral muscle group using b-mode ultrasound: A technical note. Journal of Biomedical Physics & Engineering. 2021; 11(2):257-62. [DOI:10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.2009-1182]
14. Sarafraz H, Hadian MR, Ayoobi Yazdi N, Olyaei G, Bagheri H, Jalaie S, et al. Test-retest reliability of nerve and muscle morphometric characteristics utilizing ultrasound imaging in individuals with unilateral sciatica and controls. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2018; 26:47. [DOI:10.1186/s12998-018-0215-x] [PMID]
15. Lanferdini FJ, Manganelli BF, Lopez P, Klein KD, Cadore EL, Vaz MA. Echo intensity reliability for the analysis of different muscle areas in athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2019; 33(12):3353-60. [DOI:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003063] [PMID]
16. Fleiss JL. Design and analysis of clinical experiments. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons; 2011. [Link]
17. Lin YJ, Chai HM, Wang SF. Reliability of thickness measurements of the dorsal muscles of the upper cervical spine: An ultrasonographic study. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2009; 39(12):850-7. [DOI:10.2519/jospt.2009.3005] [PMID]
18. Javanshir K, Rezasoltani A, Mohseni-Bandpei MA, Amiri M, Ortega-Santiago R, Fernández-De-Las-Peñas C. Ultrasound assessment of bilateral longus colli muscles in subjects with chronic bilateral neck pain. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. 2011; 90(4):293-301. [DOI:10.1097/PHM.0b013e31820173e5] [PMID]
19. Bokaee F, Rezasoltani A, Manshadi FD, Naimi SS, Baghban AA, Azimi H. Comparison of cervical muscle thickness between asymptomatic women with and without forward head posture. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. 2017; 21(3):206-11. [DOI:10.1016/j.bjpt.2017.04.003] [PMID]
20. Watanabe Y, Yamada Y, Fukumoto Y, Ishihara T, Yokoyama K, Yoshida T, et al. Echo intensity obtained from ultrasonography images reflecting muscle strength in elderly men. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2013; 8:993-8. [DOI:10.2147/CIA.S47263] [PMID]
21. Watanabe Y, Ikenaga M, Yoshimura E, Yamada Y, Kimura M. Association between echo intensity and attenuation of skeletal muscle in young and older adults: A comparison between ultrasonography and computed tomography. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 2018; 13:1871-8. [DOI:10.2147/CIA.S173372] [PMID]
22. Karmakar MK, Li X, Kwok WH, Ho AM, Ngan Kee WD. Sonoanatomy relevant for ultrasound-guided central neuraxial blocks via the paramedian approach in the lumbar region. The British Journal of Radiology. 2012; 85(1015):e262-9. [DOI:10.1259/bjr/93508121] [PMID]
23. Bokaee F, Rezasoltani A, Manshadi FD, Naimi SS. Ultrasound echo intensity of cervical muscles in women with and without forward head posture.Cranio: The Journal of Craniomandibular Practice. 2022; 40(3):232-8. [DOI:10.1080/08869634.2020.1750806] [PMID]
24. Akagi R, Suzuki M, Kawaguchi E, Miyamoto N, Yamada Y, Ema R. Muscle size-strength relationship including ultrasonographic echo intensity and voluntary activation level of a muscle group. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2018; 75:185-90. [DOI:10.1016/j.archger.2017.12.012] [PMID]
25. O’Sullivan C, Bentman S, Bennett K, Stokes M. Rehabilitative ultrasound imaging of the lower trapezius muscle: Technical description and reliability. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2007; 37(10):620-6. [DOI:10.2519/jospt.2007.2446] [PMID]
26. Rezasoltani A, Ahmadi A, Jafarigol A, Vihko V. The reliability of measuring neck muscle strength with a neck muscle force measurement device. Journal of Physical Therapy Science. 2003; 15(1):7-12. [DOI:10.1589/jpts.15.7]
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 18 No 1 (2024) | |
| Section | Research Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/jmr.v18i1.14735 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Spine Ultrasonography Neck muscles | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Naimi SS, Bokaee F. Investigating the Reliability of the Measurement of the Cervical Muscle’s Echo Intensity. jmr. 2024;18(1):106-113.
