TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliability of trapezius muscle hardness measurement
T2 - A comparison between portable muscle hardness meter and ultrasound strain elastography
AU - Sawada, Tomonori
AU - Okawara, Hiroki
AU - Nakashima, Daisuke
AU - Iwabuchi, Shuhei
AU - Matsumoto, Morio
AU - Nakamura, Masaya
AU - Nagura, Takeo
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by Sony Corporation and was supported by financial and in-kind contributions.
PY - 2020/12/2
Y1 - 2020/12/2
N2 - Prolonged computer work and smartphone use can cause stiffness of the neck and shoulder muscles, including the trapezius muscle. Hence, muscle hardness quantification is clinically beneficial. The present study aimed to examine the reliability of trapezius muscle hardness measurement using a portable muscle hardness meter and ultrasound strain elastography. Overall, 20 healthy young men participated in this study. Prior to measurement, the participant’s subjective symptoms, particularly shoulder muscle stiffness, were rated using an 11-point verbal scale. Furthermore, hardness of the right and left upper trapezius muscles was assessed. In the strain elastography assessment, muscle hardness was evaluated using strain ratio. Results showed that, in quantifying upper trapezius muscle hardness, both portable muscle hardness meter and strain elastography had an excellent intra-tester reliability (>0.9). However, the correlation coefficients between muscle hardness values assessed using a muscle hardness meter and those evaluated with strain elastography did not significantly differ, and the scores for subjective shoulder stiffness did not correspond to muscle hardness values. Therefore, the hardness of the trapezius muscle does not directly reflect the subjective shoulder stiffness. Future studies should thoroughly examine the location of the shoulder stiffness, and check whether it is accompanied by local pain or tenderness.
AB - Prolonged computer work and smartphone use can cause stiffness of the neck and shoulder muscles, including the trapezius muscle. Hence, muscle hardness quantification is clinically beneficial. The present study aimed to examine the reliability of trapezius muscle hardness measurement using a portable muscle hardness meter and ultrasound strain elastography. Overall, 20 healthy young men participated in this study. Prior to measurement, the participant’s subjective symptoms, particularly shoulder muscle stiffness, were rated using an 11-point verbal scale. Furthermore, hardness of the right and left upper trapezius muscles was assessed. In the strain elastography assessment, muscle hardness was evaluated using strain ratio. Results showed that, in quantifying upper trapezius muscle hardness, both portable muscle hardness meter and strain elastography had an excellent intra-tester reliability (>0.9). However, the correlation coefficients between muscle hardness values assessed using a muscle hardness meter and those evaluated with strain elastography did not significantly differ, and the scores for subjective shoulder stiffness did not correspond to muscle hardness values. Therefore, the hardness of the trapezius muscle does not directly reflect the subjective shoulder stiffness. Future studies should thoroughly examine the location of the shoulder stiffness, and check whether it is accompanied by local pain or tenderness.
KW - Ergonomics
KW - Intra-tester reliability
KW - Muscle hardness
KW - Muscle hardness meter
KW - Strain ratio
KW - Trapezius muscle
KW - Ultrasound strain elastography
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U2 - 10.3390/s20247200
DO - 10.3390/s20247200
M3 - Article
C2 - 33339151
AN - SCOPUS:85098107598
VL - 20
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Sensors (Switzerland)
JF - Sensors (Switzerland)
SN - 1424-8220
IS - 24
M1 - 7200
ER -