Musculoskeletal application and validation of speckle-tracking ultrasonography

Diseased, injured, or dysfunctional skeletal muscles may demonstrate abnormal function and contractility. Currently, only few in vivo imaging techniques are able to characterize the contractile properties of muscle tissue. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that muscle strain can be tracked in two upper extremity skeletal muscles by speckle-tracking ultrasonography (STU) and correlates with isometric muscle contractions. A convenience sample of 10 healthy, adult volunteers with normal shoulder function were tested. The 5 women and 5 men had a mean age of 45 years (range: 39-59 years) and BMI