Ageing post very severe injury
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Sch of Sport Exercise & Health Sciences
Abstract
Advances in the medical treatment of military trauma have resulted in the survival of those with injuries that historically would have been fatal. Many survivors are young (under 30) and multiple amputees where their musculoskeletal injuries may be confounded with the effect of blast and brain injury (very severe injury, VSI). Daily living with VSI is challenging and this challenge will increase as the cohort ages, bringing with it increased risk of musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disease, arthritis and ultimately reduced mobility.
The overall aim of this programme of research is to improve quality of life for individuals post-VSI, maximise their ability to ambulate and complete everyday tasks, and ensure they remain active for as long as possible. This research specifically focuses on assessment of musculoskeletal biomechanics of this cohort and development of appropriate rehabilitation strategies which have this ultimate aim.
The overall aim of this programme of research is to improve quality of life for individuals post-VSI, maximise their ability to ambulate and complete everyday tasks, and ensure they remain active for as long as possible. This research specifically focuses on assessment of musculoskeletal biomechanics of this cohort and development of appropriate rehabilitation strategies which have this ultimate aim.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| David John Williams (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Daniel Rothwell (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/N509516/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/09/2021 | |||
| 1814138 | Studentship | EP/N509516/1 | 01/10/2016 | 31/03/2020 | Daniel Rothwell |
| Description | The feasibility of reducing the time demand of manually analysing MRI images has been evaluated and findings suggest that this can be achieved if due consideration is given to the height of the individual in question, muscle length and muscle shape. Manual analysis of MRI images remains a time intensive task and further reductions may be achieved with automated methods which will form future work in the project. In clinical populations such as military amputees with known or unknown metal in their body (i.e. shrapnel, pacemakers) MRI is not possible and an alternative method of identifying muscle volume is needed. This research has identified a method of estimating MRI derived muscle volumes of key lower limb muscle groups using B-mode ultrasound in non-amputee males. Future work in this project will identify the application of ultrasound for estimating muscle volume in a military amputee population. |
| Exploitation Route | The ultrasound model developed can potentially be used in a clinical environment to provide an immediate and safe estimate of the volume of lower limb muscle groups in all populations. This can be used in a rehabilitation setting or a sport/athletic environment where muscle volume is commonly used as a monitoring tool. |
| Sectors | Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| Title | Manual MR image analysis |
| Description | The primary work in this project was to identify a time-effective method to apply in measuring the volume of the individual muscles of the lower limb using magnetic resonance images (MRI). A method has been identified which reduces the time demand of manually analysing MRI, by increasing the distance between adjacent analysed images, and can potentially increase the amount of research output in this area. In addition, the research provided normative muscle size and symmetry data in healthy recreationally active males which was not previously available. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Previously, a limitation in the manual analysis of MRI was the distance between analysed images. An exploration of inter-image distances ranging from the minimum (i.e. 5 mm) to 30 mm (i.e. 6 slices) found that the height of an individual, closely linked to the length of the muscle, and the shape of the muscle are important factors to consider when selecting an appropriate inter-image distance. Smaller muscles require images to be analysed more frequently and larger muscles can be analysed with larger distances between adjacent images. This finding provides researchers with a rationale on which to select inter-slice distances in future research and can potentially contribute to an increased output of research using individualised measurements of muscle volume such as athletic training studies, injury rehabilitation studies, and biomechanical modelling studies. |