Soft tissue vibrations within one soft tissue compartment

The concept of muscle tuning suggests that vibrations of the soft tissue compartments of the leg initiated by impacts are minimized by muscular activity prior to heel-strike of heel–toe running. For the quantification of muscle tuning it has been assumed (1) that the soft tissue compartment acts as one lumped mass and (2) that vibration energy dissipation does occur within one muscle. The purpose of this study was to test these two assumptions. It was hypothesized that (H1) the movement of the soft tissue compartment is not homogeneous, (H2) the vibration frequencies for different muscles within one soft tissue compartment are different and (3) attenuation of vibration movement within one muscle does occur. Soft tissue vibrations were measured using accelerometers on four locations on the quadriceps soft tissue compartment during heel–toe running. There were differences in the peak soft tissue acceleration and time of peak acceleration between accelerometer locations. The dominant frequency was similar throughout the soft tissue compartment, however; there was an attenuation of high-frequency vibration energy between distal and proximal points overlying one muscle. This evidence suggests that accelerometer placement is important when quantifying the acceleration magnitude and timing of peak soft tissue compartment but not when estimating the resonant vibration characteristics of a soft tissue compartment. It also provides initial evidence to support the idea that vibration control through muscle tuning may be achieved through changes in energy dissipating properties within the soft tissue compartment.