Reliability of Real-time Ultrasound for the Assessment of Transversus Abdominis Function
Overview
Affiliations
Unlabelled: Transversus abdominis (TrA) has now been established as a key muscle for the stabilization of the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints. Significantly, dysfunction of this muscle has also been implicated in low back pain. Real-time ultrasound (US) is a non-invasive procedure that has the potential to evaluate objectively the function of TrA.
Objective: To investigate M-mode US as a reliable method of assessing TrA function.
Method: M-mode US was used to measure the width of TrA as subjects drew in their lower abdominal wall at a controlled speed to a target depth. Eleven subjects were imaged.
Results: the measures of TrA width were reliable and ranged between 3.14mm relaxed and 6.35mm contracted. The standard error of measurement ranged between 0.18mm and 0.57mm.
Conclusion: M-mode US provides a reliable non-invasive measure of a controlled contraction of TrA.
The role of ultrasound in diagnosis of the causes of low back pain: a review of the literature.
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