2.3.3. Shear-wave elastography measurement.
After measurement by the evaluator using ultrasound equipment, all SWE images will be stored on a separate storage device by a different researcher. To analyze the images, a Q-box will be inserted into the SWE image to evaluate the mean shear modulus in kPa of all the muscle fibers within the region of interest. The Q-box spatially averages the propagation speed of each shear wave to determine the shear modulus of each area of the imaged tissue. The shear modulus values will be averaged for the selected tissue area by averaging all the shear modulus values. Once the appropriate Q-box position is determined, the shear modulus values will be recorded 12 times in each trial. To reduce bias, the maximum and minimum values of the 12 recorded shear modulus (kPa) values will be excluded, and the average of the remaining 10 values recorded.