The researchers compared a variety of markers in the muscle tissue from the ultrasound treated and non-treated legs of each rat, including muscle mass, protein concentration and muscle fiber cross-section. Cross-section simply refers to the amount of force a muscle can exert the greater the cross-section a muscle possesses, the more force it can produce.
A comparison of these markers led the researchers to conclude that the muscles treated with ultrasound healed at the same rate as the muscles that were left to heal naturally.
While Devor doesn't discount that ultrasound treatment may feel good, he worries that treating a sports-related muscle injury with ultrasound may give an athlete a false sense of security.
"Because the injured muscle feels better after ultrasound treatment, an athlete may be tempted to get back in the game before the skeletal muscle injury is really healed," Devor said. "This puts him at risk for more significant re-injury if the muscle isn't completely healed.
"I'm supportive of the placebo effect massaging an injury may make the person feel better," he continued. "But in this case, ultrasound treatment didn't have any physiological effect. Medical practitioners who administer this treatment regularly need to ask more questions about its effectiveness in treating injured skeletal muscle."
The results from this study may readily translate to human muscular injuries, as the structure of skeletal muscle tissue is the same across species.
"Our skeletal muscle tissue is the same as what's in a rat, dog, cat, etc.," Devor said. "The difference is that the tissue is exposed to diverse hormonal environments."
He and his colleagues are continuing to study ultrasound therapy they're currently looking at the effect that different types of ultrasound have on skeletal muscle contusion injuries.
In the meantime, Devor's best advice is that injured athletes let muscles heal as Mother N
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Contact: Steven Devor
Devor.3@osu.edu
614-688-8436
Ohio State University
12-Apr-2004