Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 25, 2026
08:11
Ultrasound Tissue Characterization of Human Achilles Tendon by Stability Quantification of Echo Patterns
Published on: September 5, 2025
467
Quantification of Mechanical Properties in Healthy Achilles Tendon Using Continuous Shear Wave Elastography: A
Patrick Corrigan1, Jennifer A Zellers1, Phoebe Balascio1
1Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA.
Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology
|May 12, 2019
Summary
Continuous shear wave elastography (cSWE) reliably estimates Achilles tendon mechanical properties. This study validates cSWE, showing its potential for accurate tendon assessment.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Medical Imaging
- Musculoskeletal Research
Background:
- Accurate assessment of tendon mechanical properties is crucial for understanding injury and guiding rehabilitation.
- Continuous shear wave elastography (cSWE) is an emerging ultrasound technique for non-invasive tissue characterization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the intra-rater reliability and construct validity of cSWE for Achilles tendon mechanical properties.
- To establish an equivalent shear modulus for cSWE comparable to Supersonic Shear Imaging.
- To explore relationships between tensile and shear mechanical properties of the Achilles tendon.
Main Methods:
- Achilles tendon mechanical properties were measured using cSWE across various time points (4-h, 2-wk follow-up) and ankle positions.
- B-mode ultrasound imaging and dynamometry were employed to determine Young's modulus in different ankle positions.
- Intra-rater reliability was assessed for cSWE measurements.
Main Results:
- cSWE demonstrated fair-to-excellent intra-rater reliability for estimating Achilles tendon mechanical properties.
- Construct validity was supported, as increased ankle dorsiflexion correlated with enhanced mechanical properties.
- Significant linear relationships were identified between the tendon's tensile and shear mechanical properties.
Conclusions:
- Continuous shear wave elastography exhibits sufficient reliability and validity for assessing Achilles tendon mechanical properties.
- cSWE offers a promising non-invasive method for quantitative analysis of tendon biomechanics.
- Findings support the use of cSWE in clinical and research settings for tendon evaluation.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:29Reliability and Validity
13.8K
Reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. Reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. In the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways.
13.8K
01:15Bioavailability Study Design: Healthy Subjects Versus Patients
146
Bioavailability studies are essential for evaluating a drug's therapeutic efficacy and understanding its absorption patterns under various physiological conditions. Conducting such studies on target patient populations provides more relevant data by simulating real-world disease states. However, practical challenges often necessitate the use of young, healthy adult volunteers as study subjects.Patients may exhibit altered drug absorption patterns due to the effects of the disease itself,...
146
02:12The Wave Nature of Light
61.1K
The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion.
61.1K
02:45The Quantum-Mechanical Model of an Atom
56.8K
Shortly after de Broglie published his ideas that the electron in a hydrogen atom could be better thought of as being a circular standing wave instead of a particle moving in quantized circular orbits, Erwin Schrödinger extended de Broglie’s work by deriving what is now known as the Schrödinger equation. When Schrödinger applied his equation to hydrogen-like atoms, he was able to reproduce Bohr’s expression for the energy and, thus, the Rydberg formula governing hydrogen spectra.
56.8K
01:19Shearing Stress
1.9K
Shearing stress, denoted by the Greek letter tau (τ), is stress caused by forces acting transversely on an object. These forces create internal ones within the entity in the plane where the external forces are applied. The resultant of these internal forces is the shear in the section.
The average shearing stress can be calculated by dividing the shear by the area of the cross-section.
The average shearing stress can be calculated by dividing the shear by the area of the cross-section.
1.9K
01:20Shearing Strain
1.3K
The shearing strain represents a cubic element's angular change when subjected to shearing stress. This type of stress can transform a cube into an oblique parallelepiped without influencing normal strains. The cubic element experiences a significant transformation when exposed solely to shearing stress. Its shape alters from a perfect cube into a rhomboid, clearly demonstrating the effect of shearing strain. The degree of this strain is considered positive if it reduces the angle between the...
1.3K