High resolution ultrasound (HR-US) analysis of muscular pennation angle in track-and-fields athletes

Purpose: To evaluate the fascicle angles of pennation of lower limb muscles (vastus lateralis (VL) and medial head of gastrocnemius (MG)) using HR-US in highly trained track-and-field athletes, in order to investigate whether the fascicle arrangements of the muscles could be different according to their muscular activities (aerobic versus anaerobic). Materials and methods: 36 track and field athletes trained in aerobic (marathon runners) and anaerobic (100 metres runners) were evaluated at the end of their training session. The evaluation was performed by a 7.5–13MHz probe on VL and MG of both limbs. The measure…