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Diagnostics
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Medical Imaging in Diagnosis, Prevention and Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries
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Medical Imaging in Diagnosis, Prevention and Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Imaging and Theranostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 2237

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yih-Kuen Jan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Rehabilitation Engineering Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
Interests: biomechanics; computational modeling; diabetic complicatioins; exercise physiology; microcirculation; signal analysis; wound healing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. W. Catherine Cheung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
Interests: physical therapy; Autism; physical activity; assistive technology
Dr. Suguna Pappu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Neurosurgery, Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, IL, USA
Interests: neurosurgery; neck pain; spine problems; spinal fusion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Musculoskeletal injuries can occur due to an acute trauma or repetitive stress to the skeletal muscle, tendon, ligament, fascia and bone tissue. Musculoskeletal impairment is the leading cause of rehabilitation in the world. Although recent advances in the prevention and management of musculoskeletal injuries have significantly reduced the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries and improved the outcome of musculoskeletal rehabilitation, the World Health Organization launched the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative, indicating the profound unmet need for advancements in the diagnosis, prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries.

Medical imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and elastographic ultrasound, is widely used in assessing neurological impairment and assisting orthopedic surgery for providing individualized treatment. However, medical imaging is underutilized in rehabilitation, especially musculoskeletal injury prevention and rehabilitation. The current rehabilitative intervention often ignores the impact of precision assessment using medical imaging to better understand pathophysiological progression and rehabilitation-induced remodeling of the musculoskeletal system. These medical imaging techniques can be used to address the unmet needs in musculoskeletal injury diagnosis and rehabilitation. The objective of this Special Issue is to bring together clinicians and researchers to explore the use of medical imaging in improving clinical practice in the diagnosis, prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries. This Special Issue also welcomes the application of medical imaging among various athletes for better training and the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. All topics related to medical imaging in musculoskeletal injuries are welcome.

Dr. Yih-Kuen Jan
Dr. W. Catherine Cheung
Guest Editors

Dr. Suguna Pappu
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fitting of prostheses and exoskeletons
  • force-based manipulations
  • medical imaging (e.g., MRI, CT, ultrasound elastography)
  • musculoskeletal pain (low-back pain and non-specific causes of chronic pain)
  • myofascial pain syndrome
  • sports training
  • surgical scar and postoperative management
  • thermal and non-thermal modalities

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2653 KiB  
Article
Relationship Between Muscle Tone and Elasticity: Simultaneous Quantitative Assessment Using Train-of-Four Monitoring and Continuous Shear Wave Elastography During Anesthesia Induction—A Prospective Observational Study
by Hitoshi Shitara, Tadanao Hiroki, Ren Koda, Tsuyoshi Sasaki, Masataka Kamiyama, Ryosuke Miyamoto, Kurumi Nakase, Fukuhisa Ino, Takuma Kachi, Rie Mieda, Chizu Aso, Yoshiki Yamakoshi, Shigeru Saito and Hirotaka Chikuda
Diagnostics 2025, 15(3), 293; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15030293 - 26 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1168
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Non-invasive evaluations of muscle elasticity and tone are crucial in musculoskeletal medicine. Shear wave elastography (SWE) provides quantitative assessments of muscle elasticity, whereas train-of-four (TOF) monitoring measures muscle tone during neuromuscular blockades. This study investigated the relationship between muscle elasticity and [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Non-invasive evaluations of muscle elasticity and tone are crucial in musculoskeletal medicine. Shear wave elastography (SWE) provides quantitative assessments of muscle elasticity, whereas train-of-four (TOF) monitoring measures muscle tone during neuromuscular blockades. This study investigated the relationship between muscle elasticity and tone during anesthesia induction using continuous SWE (C-SWE) and TOF monitoring. Methods: Fifteen patients who underwent general anesthesia with rocuronium were recruited. The muscle elasticity of the vastus lateralis was assessed using C-SWE, and muscle tone was evaluated using TOF monitoring. Measurements were taken at two time points: before rocuronium administration and during complete muscle relaxation, confirmed by the TOF ratio (TOF = 0). Statistical analyses were performed using paired t-tests and correlation analyses. Results: Data from 11 patients were analyzed. The mean shear wave velocity (SWV) decreased significantly from 5.0 ± 0.4 m/s before rocuronium administration to 3.1 ± 0.3 m/s during complete relaxation (p < 0.0001). A significant negative correlation was observed between the baseline SWV and the degree of reduction in the SWV (r = −0.728, p = 0.011). No significant correlations were found between SWV and demographic factors such as age, sex, height, or body mass index. Conclusions: C-SWE and TOF monitoring are reliable and sensitive methods for evaluating muscle elasticity and tone during general anesthesia. This study highlights the interplay between muscle tone and elasticity, suggesting that muscles with a higher baseline tone exhibit a greater reduction in elasticity after relaxation. These findings have implications for improving intraoperative muscle function assessments and advancing the application of C-SWE in clinical practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medical Imaging in Diagnosis, Prevention and Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries)
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18 pages, 511 KiB  
Systematic Review
Texture Analysis in Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography: A Systematic Review
by Yih-Kuen Jan, Isabella Yu-Ju Hung and W. Catherine Cheung
Diagnostics 2025, 15(5), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15050524 - 21 Feb 2025
Viewed by 771
Abstract
Background: The objective of this systematic review was to summarize the findings of texture analyses of musculoskeletal ultrasound images and synthesize the information to facilitate the use of texture analysis on assessing skeletal muscle quality in various pathophysiological conditions. Methods: Medline, PubMed, Scopus, [...] Read more.
Background: The objective of this systematic review was to summarize the findings of texture analyses of musculoskeletal ultrasound images and synthesize the information to facilitate the use of texture analysis on assessing skeletal muscle quality in various pathophysiological conditions. Methods: Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases were searched from their inception until January 2025 using the PRISMA Diagnostic Test Accuracy and was registered at PROSPERO CRD42025636613. Information related to patients, interventions, ultrasound settings, texture analyses, muscles, and findings were extracted. The quality of evidence was evaluated using QUADAS-2. Results: A total of 38 studies using second-order and higher-order texture analysis met the criteria. The results indicated that no studies used an established reference standard (histopathology) to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound texture analysis in diagnosing muscle quality. Alternative reference standards were compared, including various physiological, pathological, and pre–post intervention comparisons using over 200+ texture features of various muscles on diverse pathophysiological conditions. Conclusions: The findings of these included studies demonstrating that ultrasound texture analysis was able to discriminate changes in muscle quality using texture analysis between patients with pathological conditions and healthy conditions, including popular gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)-based contrast, correlation, energy, entropy, and homogeneity. Studies also demonstrated that texture analysis can discriminate muscle quality in various muscles under pathophysiological conditions although evidence is low because of bias in subject recruitment and lack of comparison with the established reference standard. This is the first systematic review of the use of texture analysis of musculoskeletal ultrasonography in assessing muscle quality in various muscles under diverse pathophysiological conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Medical Imaging in Diagnosis, Prevention and Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries)
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