Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;43(12):881-90.
doi: 10.2519/jospt.2013.4486. Epub 2013 Oct 30.

Quadriceps and hamstrings morphology is related to walking mechanics and knee cartilage MRI relaxation times in young adults

Deepak Kumar  1 , Karupppasamy Subburaj, Wilson Lin, Dimitrios C Karampinos, Charles E McCulloch, Xiaojuan Li, Thomas M Link, Richard B Souza, Sharmila Majumdar
Affiliations

Quadriceps and hamstrings morphology is related to walking mechanics and knee cartilage MRI relaxation times in young adults

Deepak Kumar et al. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Study design: Controlled laboratory study using a cross-sectional design.

Objectives: To analyze the relationship of quadriceps-hamstrings and medial-lateral quadriceps anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSA) ratios with knee loads during walking and articular and meniscal cartilage composition in young, healthy subjects.

Background: Muscle forces affect knee loading during walking, but it is not known if muscle morphology is associated with walking mechanics and cartilage composition in young subjects.

Methods: Forty-two knees from 27 young, healthy, active volunteers (age, 20-35 years; body mass index, <28 kg/m(2)) underwent 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 3-D motion capture. Standard MRI sequences were used for articular and meniscal cartilage T1rho and T2 relaxation times and for quadriceps and hamstrings muscle ACSA. Frontal plane kinetics during the stance phase of walking was calculated. Generalized estimating equation models were used to identify muscle variables that predicted MRI and gait parameters.

Results: Quadriceps-hamstrings and medial-lateral quadriceps ACSA ratios were positively related to frontal plane loading (β = .21-.54, P≤.006), global articular cartilage relaxation times (β = .22-.28, P≤.041), and the medial-lateral ratio of meniscus T1rho relaxation time (β = .26-.36, P≤.049). The medial-lateral quadriceps ACSA ratio was positively related to global meniscus T1rho relaxation times (β = .30, P = .046).

Conclusion: Higher quadriceps-hamstrings and medial-lateral quadriceps ACSA ratios were associated with higher frontal plane loading during walking and with articular and meniscal cartilage T1rho and T2 relaxation times. These findings highlight the relationships between different knee tissues and knee mechanics in young, healthy individuals.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic showing changes in articular cartilage with osteoarthritis. Cartilage layer is shown in blue and subchondral bone in yellow. The zoomed area shows cartilage composition with pink collagen network and blue proteoglycan molecules. (A) Healthy cartilage, (B) early degeneration with intact cartilage but loss of proteoglycans and disruption of collagen network, and (C) advanced degeneration with cartilage fissuring, further loss of proteoglycans, and collagen degradation. ©Andrew Swift. Reproduced with permission.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Color maps of medial femur and medial tibia articular cartilage for T1rho (A), T2 (B), and meniscal cartilage T1rho (C) and T2 (D).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
(A) Bilateral thigh muscle regions of interest for RF, VM, VL, VI, MH, and LH; (B) grouping of muscle regions as quadriceps (red) and hamstrings (green); and (C) grouping of the quadriceps muscle regions as medial (yellow) and lateral (pink) regions. Abbreviations: LH, lateral hamstrings; MH, medial hamstrings; RF, rectus femoris; VI, vastus intermedius; VL, vastus lateralis; VM, vastus medialis.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Scatter plots of key relationships. (A) Quadriceps-hamstrings ACSA ratio and peak knee adduction moment, (B) quadriceps-hamstrings ACSA ratio and knee adduction moment impulse, (C) quadriceps-hamstrings ACSA ratio and global T2, and (D) quadriceps-hamstrings ACSA ratio and medial-lateral meniscus T1rho ratio. Abbreviations: ACSA, anatomical cross-sectional area; BW, body weight; Ht, height.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aaboe J, Bliddal H, Alkjaer T, Boesen M, Henriksen M. The influence of radiographic severity on the relationship between muscle strength and joint loading in obese knee osteoarthritis patients. Arthritis. 2011;2011:571519. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/571519. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Akella SV, Regatte RR, Gougoutas AJ, et al. Proteoglycan-induced changes in T1rho-relaxation of articular cartilage at 4T. Magn Reson Med. 2001;46:419–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrm.1208. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alizai H, Nardo L, Karampinos DC, et al. Comparison of clinical semi-quantitative assessment of muscle fat infiltration with quantitative assessment using chemical shift-based water/fat separation in MR studies of the calf of post-menopausal women. Eur Radiol. 2012;22:1592–1600. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00330-012-2404-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andriacchi TP, Mündermann A. The role of ambulatory mechanics in the initiation and progression of knee osteoarthritis. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2006;18:514–518. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.bor.0000240365.16842.4e. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bamman MM, Newcomer BR, Larson-Meyer DE, Weinsier RL, Hunter GR. Evaluation of the strength-size relationship in vivo using various muscle size indices. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32:1307–1313. - PubMed

Publication types