Applicability of ultrasonography for evaluating trunk muscles size in athletes: a study focused on baseball batters.
Michio Wachi, Tadashi Suga, Takatoshi Higuchi and 6 others
PMID 28931982WHAT IT FOUND
In baseball batters, ultrasound thickness of trunk muscles closely matched MRI muscle size, except multifidus showed weaker agreement.
Ultrasound may estimate trunk muscle size, but not performance.
Key findings
01Ultrasound-measured trunk muscle thickness showed significant correlations with MRI-measured cross-sectional area in baseball batters (r=0.692 to 0.926).
02The multifidus lumborum showed lower correlations than other trunk muscles (total r=0.697 compared with r=0.831 to 0.897 for other muscles).
03Baseball batters had higher normalized trunk muscle thickness and cross-sectional area than untrained subjects, except the multifidus cross-sectional area did not differ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 30 male collegiate baseball batters were tested, so the results may not apply to female athletes, other sports, or patients with trunk conditions. The untrained comparison group came from a previous study, not a concurrent recruitment, so group differences may be affected by sample or measurement changes. Multifidus lumborum agreement was weaker and its MRI cross-sectional area had variable shapes, so ultrasound may be less reliable for that muscle. The study tested measurement agreement, not clinical outcomes such as pain, function, performance, or treatment response.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat ultrasound as a proven clinical test for trunk muscle pathology or performance in all athletes. It was tested only in 30 male baseball batters, and the multifidus showed weaker agreement with MRI.