Abstract

The use of B-mode ultrasound for measuring skeletal muscle at two sites on the upper arm was evaluated for young men and women. Subjects were volunteers, including 15 men and 15 women college students. Men had ultrasonically determined muscle thicknesses which were 33 and 44 greater than possessed by the women at both the biceps brachii and triceps brachii sites, respectively. Reliability coefficients were no less than 0.98 for ultrasonic scans repeated within 30 minutes except for the biceps brachii site in females (r = .89). Correlations between ultrasonic and circumferential measurements of skeletal muscle ranged from slight to moderate. It was concluded that B-mode ultrasound can be reliably used for measuring the thickness of skeletal muscle on the upper arm of young adults when scans are repeated following a short interval of time. It was also concluded that ultrasonically derived measures of muscle thickness on the upper arm had little relationship with corresponding circumference measurements in young men and women. Speculation concerning the use of this technique centers primarily on measuring structural changes in skeletal muscle consequent to training, detraining, or disease. Verf.-Referat