A tissue velocity ultrasound imaging investigation of the dorsal neck muscles during resisted isometric extension

Persons with neck pain exhibit altered patterns of muscle patterning, but limited investigations have been carried out on these alterations or muscle patterning in healthy volunteers. This study investigated the tissue motion of the dorsal neck muscles at the C4 segmental level in 15 healthy subjects during manually resisted head extension. Doppler-based tissue velocity ultrasound imaging (TVI) was used to detect regional tissue deformation, providing indirect evidence of inter-muscular movement patterning. The deep muscles, multifidus and semispinalis, had different muscular movement patterning than the superficial muscles, especially the trapezius muscle. The semispinalis cervicis (SSCerv) was the first deformed upon exercise initiation, followed by multifidus and semispinalis capitis (SSCap). The semispinalis muscles, notably capitis, exhibited a high rate of deformation during the exercise. The trapezius muscle exhibited the least and lowest deformation rate. In conclusion, TVI provided detailed information on regional tissue activity and muscle movement patterning among the dorsal neck muscles. In future studies, data from patients with neck disorders will have to be matched to data from healthy volunteers in a variety of situations and activities.