1. Introduction
Ultrasonography is commonly used to assess muscle size (e.g., muscle thickness, cross-sectional area) and architecture (e.g., pennation angle) [
1,
2,
3], and has been shown to be valid against the gold standards magnetic resonance imaging [
4,
5,
6] and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry [
7,
8]. Ultrasonography measurements are typically taken in a lying, and/or resting position, meaning that the muscle is likely evaluated in a position non-specific to upright activities. This could result in large alterations in measurements of muscle size and architecture due to the influence of gravity [
9,
10]. However, ultrasonography provides a level of versatility (e.g., subject positioning) that other methods do not. The adaptability of ultrasonography may be exploited to allow practitioners to develop techniques that capture muscle size and architecture in positions that maintain its functional configuration.
Muscle thickness (MT) and cross-sectional area (CSA) have previously shown moderate-to-strong relationships with magnitude of force production (
r = 0.32–0.85) [
10,
11], while pennation angle (PA) has been more commonly associated with rate of force development (RFD) (
r = 0.34–0.44) [
12,
13,
14] when measurements are collected using ultrasonography. The non-specific nature of typical athlete positioning in ultrasonography assessment makes it plausible that the selected posture may influence the magnitude of relationship observed between muscle measurements and physical outputs. Ultrasonography techniques used to assess musculature as they relate to performance potential may be more appropriate if they closely reflect the positioning found in athletic maneuvers (e.g., standing). Standing assessments provide greater ecological validity, potentially yielding more precise associations between measures of muscle architecture and upright performance outcomes. To the authors’ knowledge, the potential influence that subject positioning may have on the relationship between muscle function and architecture has not yet been explored.
Therefore, the purpose of the current study was (1) to examine the differences between standing and lying measures of MT, PA, and CSA using ultrasonography, and (2) to explore the relationships between lying and standing measures with isometric and dynamic assessments of force production. We hypothesized that standing measurements of muscle size and architecture would have comparatively greater relationships to such measures of physical output. This may be important for practitioners that work with athletic populations, as standing ultrasonography measurements may capture the muscle in a state that more closely represents its functional configuration.
4. Discussion
The current investigation is the first study intended to determine the relationship between lying and standing measures of VL muscle morphology with upright isometric and dynamic performances. Although standing postures have been used in evaluating dynamic fascicle and tendon behavior [
17,
28], lying muscle measurements have been commonly used when the primary interest is static muscle morphology. We hypothesized that data collected using an upright posture would provide a stronger relationship to measures of standing isometric and dynamic performance. Our results indicated that (1) collection position significantly altered ultrasonography measurements of VL muscle size and architecture, and (2) standing ultrasonography measures were more strongly and more abundantly associated with measures of upright isometric and dynamic performance compared to lying ultrasonography measures.
Measures of standing muscle size (i.e., MT, CSA) and PA were statistically larger than the lying posture, providing evidence that body position substantially influenced the muscle measurements. Though a statistical change was found between the different postures with respect to CSA measures, there was a noticeably smaller percent difference compared to those of MT and PA. This indicates that while the measurements were quite different at the muscle belly, the measurements of whole muscle CSA were not influenced to the same degree. This may be due to a redistribution of the observed or neighboring muscle tissue and fluid between measurement positions due to gravity. Greater magnitude changes at the muscle belly may also be influenced by changes to fascicle orientation and/or rotation, creating a bulging effect [
29]. Nonetheless, the observed increase in all measures of muscle morphology using an upright posture warrants an examination into the meaningfulness of such a difference. Most athletic actions are executed from standing postures, and therefore the potential exists that lying ultrasonography measures may not accurately capture the muscle in its functional configuration [
30].
Lying measures yielded moderate correlations between LMT-1RM and LCSA-1RM, which is in agreement with previous findings [
3,
31,
32,
33]. Nevertheless, the correlations observed between standing measurements of whole muscle CSA and maximal dynamic strength were greater in magnitude, yielding a very large association between SCSA-1RM compared to a large association between LCSA-1RM. Standing CSA and SMT generated large and very large associations with IPF respectively, whereas LMT and LCSA were both considered moderate. While the relationship between muscle size as measured by ultrasonography and maximal strength has been well established [
3,
31,
32,
33], the results of the current investigation suggest that the selected posture in which muscle size is measured may influence the magnitude of its association with maximal strength. We speculate that this observation may be due to an underrepresentation of muscle size and architecture captured in a lying posture. When concerned with dynamic strength outcomes (i.e., 1RM), the relationship with MT was not considerably influenced by body position, as evidenced by both postures generating large correlations. The lack of influence position has on dynamic strength correlations could potentially be attributed to muscle-length changes during dynamic movements compared to isometric tests. Therefore, standing measures may better reflect muscle shape and architecture as they relate to upright isometric tests such as the isometric squat. It is possible that measurement of muscle architecture at a variety of joint angles may capture the changes in muscle length associated with changes in joint angle, thus better reflecting the changes in muscle length that occur during dynamic assessments. Practitioners may consider the positioning and nature of their physical assessment when determining the most appropriate ultrasonography technique in measuring muscle size.
Consideration of muscle architecture may give a more complete indication of the influence of body position on muscle imaging and the resulting associations with physical output. Pennation angle indicates fascicle orientation with respect to the aponeurosis and has been previously associated with both maximal strength and RFD [
34,
35]. The substantially larger SPA compared to LPA reflects the influence of gravity on muscle shape and resulting PA. Though the present investigation did not yield a significant relationship between SPA-IPF, the difference in relative magnitude of the relationships LPA-IPF and SPA-IPF should be noted. The difference in correlation coefficients further suggests that lying measures may not be accurately capturing muscle architecture as it relates to its maximal strength.
Maximal strength has been suggested to underpin RFD [
36,
37], as stronger athletes exhibit higher RFD and force at critical time points [
35]. However, it may be valuable to assess RFD separately, as it has been found to correlate strongly with sport-specific tasks [
38]. Muscle architecture is one of the major contributors to an athlete’s RFD capabilities [
39,
40], along with fiber-type distribution [
41,
42,
43,
44] and efferent neural drive [
35,
45]. In the present investigation, SPA yielded large correlations with all of the considered spectrum of RFD time points, while lying measures yielded trivial relationships. Further, large associations were observed between SMT and all RFD time points, with only small associations observed with LMT and RFD. Rate of force development during later time intervals (i.e., >100 ms) are closely related to maximal strength [
36], which may also explain the observed relationship with standing measures of muscle size. The very strong correlation with SPA may be due to the greater pennation angle observed, which may be due to a more compacted arrangement of series elastic elements (e.g., actin-myosin filaments, titin, cross-bridges) [
46,
47,
48]. The findings of the current investigation, especially considering the relationship between SPA-RFD50, suggest that standing fiber orientation may also be considered when investigating the intrinsic muscle properties influencing early-phase RFD [
35,
36]. Therefore, lying measures of VL muscle architecture may misrepresent the functional configuration and RFD potential entirely, limiting ultrasonography’s usefulness as a monitoring tool for strength-power athletes. Because of RFD’s implication for sporting success [
35], practitioners should instead consider standing measures of muscle architecture.
Impulse combines elements of magnitude and rate of force production, as increases in either would result in an increase in impulse. Impulse has well-established relationships to sprint [
49,
50,
51] and change-of-direction performance [
52], making it potentially the most important kinetic characteristic to consider in evaluating the overall success and potential transfer of effects resulting from a training intervention. Within the current investigation, the results suggest that standing ultrasonography measures may provide a more useful representation of VL architecture in predicting impulse potential across a range of time points. All impulse variables considered (IMP50, IMP100, IMP200) elicited statistically large associations with SMT and SCSA, but no statistical significance was reached with any lying measures of muscle size. Additionally, SPA returned substantially larger correlation magnitudes compared to LPA, further suggesting that standing measurements more accurately capture the functional configuration of VL architecture as it relates to the physical potential of strength-power athletes.