TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wilke, Jan
A1  - Debelle, Heloise
A1  - Tenberg, Sarah
A1  - Dilley, Andrew
A1  - Maganaris, Constantinos
T1  - Ankle motion is associated With soft tissue displacement in the dorsal thigh: an in vivo investigation suggesting myofascial force transmission across the knee joint
T2  - Frontiers in physiology
N2  - Experiments in cadavers have demonstrated significant mechanical interactions between constituents of myofascial chains. However, evidence for such force transmission effects is scarce under in vivo conditions. The purpose of this trial was to examine the impact of ankle motion on soft tissue displacement of the dorsal thigh. Eleven healthy active individuals (26.8 ± 4.3 years, six males), in prone position and with the knee extended, underwent passive calf stretches (ankle dorsal extension) imposed by an isokinetic dynamometer. High-resolution ultrasound was used to simultaneously capture the displacement of the semimembranosus muscle, which was quantified by means of cross-correlation analysis. Inactivity of the leg muscles was controlled using surface electromyography (EMG). One participant had to be excluded due to major EMG activity during the experiment. According to a one-sample t test testing the difference to the neutral zero position, ankle dorsal extension induced substantial caudal muscle displacements (5.76 ± 2.67 mm, p < 0.0001). Correlation analysis (Spearman), furthermore, revealed a strong association between maximal dorsal extension and semimembranosus motion (rho = 0.76, p = 0.02). In conclusion, the present trial provides initial in vivo evidence for a mechanical force transmission between serially connected skeletal muscles. This means that local alterations of the mechanical tissue properties may modify flexibility in neighboring (superior or inferior) joints.
KW  - myofascial force transmission
KW  - ultrasound
KW  - range of motion
KW  - fascia
KW  - myofascial chains
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/54477
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-544778
N1  - © 2020 Wilke, Debelle, Tenberg, Dilley and Maganaris. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
VL  - 11
IS  - 180
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -