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Hindi Research Article
Reliability and Asymmetry Profiles of Myotonometric Measurements in Healthy Skeletal Muscles
| Wing Kai Lam1, Damon Mok2, Winson CC Lee3* and Bob Chen4 | |
| 1Li Ning Sports Science Research Center, Beijing, China | |
| 2Dr BobChen Studio, Beijing, China | |
| 3Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China | |
| 4Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China | |
| Corresponding Author : | Winson C.C Lee Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Engineering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China Tel: (+852)27664942 E-mail: winson.lee@polyu.edu.hk |
| Received December 13, 2014; Accepted January 12, 2015; Published January 19, 2015 | |
| Citation: Lam WK, Mok D, Lee WCC, Chen B (2015) Reliability and Asymmetry Profiles of Myotonometric Measurements in Healthy Skeletal Muscles. J Nov Physiother 5:245. doi: 10.4172/2165-7025.1000245 | |
| Copyright: © 2015 Lam WK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Background: Myotonometric measurement provides information about the muscle properties before and after applying physiotherapy treatments. This study examined the reliability, the degree of side-to-side symmetry, and the muscle type effect of the myotonometric parameters.
Methods: Bilateral muscle stiffness, oscillation frequency and decrement of 11 different muscles during relaxed state were measured on 14 healthy male participants using a myometer over two consecutive days. Within-day and inter-day intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and absolute symmetry index (ASI) of measurements on each muscle site were calculated. Comparisons were made between the two muscle types and among the different test parameters.
Results: Muscle decrement had significantly lower within-day ICC than muscle stiffness (P<.01). Compared to tonic muscles, phasic type muscles had worse within-day ICC in muscle oscillation frequency measure (P<.05). Muscle decrement (13.8%) was significantly more asymmetric than muscle stiffness (8.7%, P<.01) and oscillation frequency (8.3%, P<.01). Gastrocnemius and Tibialis Anterior muscles demonstrated the highest degree of asymmetry (>20%) in the decrement measurement.
Conclusion: Myotonometric measurements are generally reliable for clinical muscle assessment. In analyzing and interpreting myotonomeric measurements, assessing muscle asymmetries should consider if the observed difference is due to measurement errors or intervention effects when involving such parameters and muscles.
