Manual and semi-automatic determination of elbow angle-independent parameters for a model of the biceps brachii distal tendon based on ultrasonic imaging

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 6;17(10):e0275128. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275128. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Tendons consist of passive soft tissue with non linear material properties. They play a key role in force transmission from muscle to skeletal structure. The properties of tendons have been extensively examined in vitro. In this work, a non linear model of the distal biceps brachii tendon was parameterized based on measurements of myotendinous junction displacements in vivo at different load forces and elbow angles. The myotendinous junction displacement was extracted from ultrasound B-mode images within an experimental setup which also allowed for the retrieval of the exerted load forces as well as the elbow joint angles. To quantify the myotendinous junction movement based on visual features from ultrasound images, a manual and an automatic method were developed. The performance of both methods was compared. By means of exemplary data from three subjects, reliable fits of the tendon model were achieved. Further, different aspects of the non linear tendon model generated in this way could be reconciled with individual experiments from literature.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Elbow / diagnostic imaging
  • Elbow Joint* / diagnostic imaging
  • Elbow Joint* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Muscle, Skeletal / diagnostic imaging
  • Muscle, Skeletal / physiology
  • Tendons / diagnostic imaging
  • Tendons / physiology
  • Ultrasonography / methods

Grants and funding

This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, https://www.dfg.de/en/) - ref. no. SCHN 1339/3-1 - and in part by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the project ITS.ML - ID 01IS18041 A (AS). The submission was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, https://www.dfg.de/en/) – 490988677 – and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (https://www.fh-bielefeld.de/) (AS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.