Keywords:
Radiographers, Musculoskeletal soft tissue, Musculoskeletal system, Ultrasound, Experimental investigations, Tissue characterisation
Authors:
R. A. M. Santos1, R. F. F. D. Barreiro2; 1Coimbra/PT, 2Mealhada, Me/PT
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-0574
Aims and objectives
Nowadays,
postural changes affect all different age groups by the use of computers,
cell phones or sedentary routines (1).
A healthy spine needs a good posture,
exercise and stretching (2).
The promotion of a healthy spine and the prevention of postural deviations should be included and developed in early childhood education (2).
Scoliosis is characterized by lateral deviation of the spine curvature (3).
Hyperlordosis is defined as the accentuation of the lumbar spine curvature,
and is related to the pelvis rotation (3).
Postural muscles are responsible for stabilization and spine movements (3).
Ultrasound is an imaging method that allows the study and muscles characterisation (size,
shape,
thickness,
echo-intensity,
angle pennation and fascicle length) and it is a technique with several advantages such as: innocuous; low cost,
accessible and doesn’t use ionising radiation (4).
The aim of this study is to characterize the muscular ultrasound of two postural muscles (Rectus abdominis and lumbar multifidus) in healthy individuals and in individuals with postural alterations (namely hyperlordosis).