Presenter: Lauren Maloney
Faculty Mentor: Andy Karduna
Presentation Type: Poster 75
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Human Physiology
Differences in muscular activation in the context of dysfunctional muscles has been a field of particular interest in diagnosing disorders and determining possible causes of musculoskeletal pathologies. Electromyography (EMG) is a technique that measures the electrical activity of muscles via electrodes, and is the most commonly used technique for assessing muscular activation. However, EMG is invasive and difficult to carry out easily in clinical settings. In this study, we evaluated ultrasound images of symptomatic and asymptomatic limbs of 30 patients with unilateral shoulder pain in comparison to a “gold standard” technique and found that ultrasound is a reliable and valid tool for determining muscular width of the supraspinatus. Using this data, we compared differences in muscular activation between symptomatic and asymptomatic limbs of patients.