Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026
3D Ultrasound Imaging: Fast and Cost-effective Morphometry of Musculoskeletal Tissue
Published on: November 27, 2017
Sample size considerations in human muscle architecture studies
Lori J Tuttle1, Samuel R Ward, Richard L Lieber
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA.
Introduction:
This report is a meta-analysis of the human muscle architecture literature that analyzes the number of muscles, number of subjects, and muscle fiber length coefficient of variation (CV) by body region.
Methods:
Muscle fiber length data are used to make recommendations for dissection-based architectural study sample sizes.
Results:
An average of 9 ± 10 (mean ± SD) muscles and an average of 9 ± 5 subjects were reported in the 26 studies considered. Across all studies, average fiber length CV was highly variable (18% ± 5%). This shows that sample sizes required to achieve adequate power varies by anatomical region.
Conclusions:
Studies involving muscle architecture should consider regional variability and effect size and determine sample size accordingly.
More Related Videos
09:57Obtaining Quality Extended Field-of-View Ultrasound Images of Skeletal Muscle to Measure Muscle Fascicle Length
Published on: December 14, 2020
11:41Real Time and Repeated Measurement of Skeletal Muscle Growth in Individual Live Zebrafish Subjected to Altered Electrical Activity
Published on: June 16, 2022