Gastrocnemius Muscle Architecture in Elite Basketballers and Cyclists: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Study

Abstract

Eccentric and concentric actions produce distinct mechanical stimuli and result in different adaptations in skeletal muscle architecture. Cycling predominantly involves concentric activity of the gastrocnemius muscles, while playing basketball requires both concentric and eccentric actions to support running, jumping, and landing. The aim of this study was to examine differences in the architecture of gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) between elite basketballers and cyclists. A trained sonographer obtained three B-mode ultrasound images from GM and GL muscles in 44 athletes (25 basketballers and 19 cyclists; 24 ± 5 years of age). The images were digitized and average fascicle length (FL), pennation angle (θ), and muscle thickness were calculated from three images per muscle. The ratio of FL to tibial length (FL/TL) and muscle thickness to tibial length (MT/TL) was also calculated to account for the potential scaling effect of stature. In males, no significant differences were identified between the athletic groups in all parameters in the GM, but a significant difference existed in muscle thickness in the GL. In basketballers, GL was 2.5 mm thicker (95% CI: 0.7–4.3 mm, p = 0.011) on the left side and 2.6 mm thicker (95% CI: 0.6–5.7 mm, p = 0.012) on the right side; however, these differences were not significant when stature was accounted for (MT/TL). In females, significant differences existed in the GM for all parameters including FL/TL and MT/TL. Female cyclists had longer FL in both limbs (MD: 11.2 and 11.3 mm), narrower θ (MD: 2.1 and 1.8°), and thicker muscles (MD: 2.1 and 2.5 mm). For the GL, female cyclists had significantly longer FL (MD: 5.2 and 5.8 mm) and narrower θ (MD: 1.7 and 2.3°) in both limbs; no differences were observed in absolute muscle thickness or MT/TL ratio. Differences in gastrocnemius muscle architecture were observed between female cyclists and basketballers, but not between males. These findings suggest that participation in sport-specific training might influence gastrocnemius muscle architecture in elite female athletes; however, it remains unclear as to whether gastrocnemius architecture is systematically influenced by the different modes of muscle activation between these respective sports.

Influence of Long-Lasting Static Stretching on Maximal Strength, Muscle Thickness and Flexibility

“…Measures of skeletal muscle architecture were done using two-dimensional B-mode ultrasound (Mindray Diagnostic Ultrasound System). Here, muscle thickness represents the most employed measure of muscle dimension ( Sarto et al, 2021 ) according to its correlation to muscle cross-sectional area, which is proportional to the number of parallel sarcomeres, thereby influencing maximal force production ( Lieber & Fridén, 2000 ; Narici et al, 2016 ; May et al, 2021 ). In our examination, ultrasound images from the lateral gastrocnemius were recorded using a linear transducer with a standardized frequency of 12–13 MHz.…”

Critical evaluation of commonly used methods to determine the concordance between sonography and magnetic resonance imaging: A comparative study

“…30% of the distance between the articular cleft of the knee joint to the most lateral top of the lateral malleolus was used to place the transducer (Perkisas et al, 2021). The muscle belly was determined as the center of the muscle between its medial and lateral borders where the maximal MCSA can be assumed (Fukunaga et al, 1992;May et al, 2021). In addition, the image plane is best aligned with the muscle's fascicles including minimal fascicle curvature (Bénard et al, 2009;Raj et al, 2012;May et al, 2021).…”

“…The muscle belly was determined as the center of the muscle between its medial and lateral borders where the maximal MCSA can be assumed (Fukunaga et al, 1992;May et al, 2021). In addition, the image plane is best aligned with the muscle's fascicles including minimal fascicle curvature (Bénard et al, 2009;Raj et al, 2012;May et al, 2021). To improve acoustic coupling and to reduce the transducer's pressure on the skin before starting the measurement, a transmission gel was applied.…”

“…Increasing muscle mass is of high importance in (elite) sports (Del Vecchio et al, 2019;Kordi et al, 2020;Zaras et al, 2021), prevention -especially in age-related diseases such as sarcopenia (English and Paddon-Jones, 2010;Lopes et al, 2019;Vikberg et al, 2019) -and rehabilitation of orthopedic indications (Wada et al, 2020). Consequently, several training methods aim to improve muscle mass which is usually measured via muscle thickness (MT) or muscle cross-sectional area (MCSA) (Schoenfeld et al, 2016;Simpson et al, 2017;Wackerhage et al, 2019;May et al, 2021), also in rehabilitative settings (Guthrie et al, 2012;Larivière et al, 2019;Padulo et al, 2020). Sarto et al (2021) pointed out promising applications of sonography in (elite) sports settings.…”

Ultrasound Measurements and Physical Fitness of Elite Youth Basketball Players

“…US can be used in a wide variety of people ranging from extremely lean to obese, [24] and has been applied in various groups, including basketball players. [22,[25][26][27][28][29] However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has simultaneously reported the US normative values for GM and RF (muscle thickness [MT] and SFT), comparing these results between different age-categories and genders in young elite basketball players. Considering all the above, the aims of the present study were to (1) obtain normative data from physical tests [CMJ and V-cut] and ultrasound measurements [MT and the adjacent SFT of the GM and RF] of different age-category male and female elite youth basketball players; (2) evaluate possible between-agecategory (U14, U16, and U18) and between-gender (male or female) differences in all these data; and (3) examine the relationships between physical and US measurements and determine the combination of variables that most accurately predict the abilities of jumping and sprinting with COD in males and females.…”