ArticleInternational journal of sports physical therapy2025
Reliability of Ultrasound Based Compressibility of the Lower Leg Anterior Tibial Muscle Compartment in Healthy Volunteers.
Article in International journal of sports physical therapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Altered tibialis anterior tendon mechanics in hallux valgus: a shear-wave elastography study integrating distal insertion patterns.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2026Article
- Assessing the reliability of interprofessional raters on peripheral muscle ultrasonography in pediatric oncology: A prospective observational study.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2026Observational
- Pressure-controlled ultrasound is a novel non-invasive technique for detecting anterior chronic exertional compartment syndrome.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2026Article
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7 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Some individuals have exercise-induced lower leg pain (ELP) caused by a chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS). As intracompartmental muscle pressure measurements are invasive with suboptimal test characteristics, other diagnostic tools are needed. Recently, ultrasound-based muscle compartment thickness analysis at 10mmHg (d10) and 80mmHg (d80) external pressure was introduced for this purpose. The difference in compartment thickness at these two external pressures induced by the study device is used to calculate muscle compressibility, a possible marker for CECS. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of a novel ultrasound compressibility technique using two distinct internal landmarks at the lower leg in a diverse group of asymptomatic adults. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Healthy volunteers (n=35; 21 female; median age 40 years, range 19-72; BMI 24.1 kg/m2, range 18.3-31.6) not having ELP underwent serial compressibility measurements (n=1678) of both legs by three observers at the tibialis anterior (TA) using the interosseous membrane (IM) and transition zone IM to tibial bone (TZIT) as internal landmarks. Inter- and intra-observer reliability was calculated for values of d10, d80 and compressibility using intraclass correlations (ICC). Results: TA compartments are less compressible using the IM landmark compared to the TZIT landmark (10.5% vs 12.5%; p<0.001). Inter-observer ICC for IM was always higher (d10 0.85; d80 0.82; compressibility 0.51) than for TZIT (d10 0.65; d80 0.53; compressibility 0.20). The intra-observer reliability for d10 and d80 was excellent (ICC>0.90) for all three observers. ICC of compressibility varied among observers and ranged from 0.76 to 0.48, with higher ICCs demonstrated for IM compared to TZIT. Conclusion: Ultrasound based anterior tibial muscle compressibility measurements have moderate inter-observer reliability and excellent intra-observer reliability if the interosseous membrane is used as internal landmark. Future studies are aimed to test muscle compressibility after exercise and in CECS. Level of Evidence: Level 3.
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