Vibration Imaging for Functional Analysis of Flexor Muscle Compartments

Yogesh Kannan Mariappan¹, Kevin J. Glaser¹, Armando Manduca², Richard L. Ehman¹

We investigated a novel technique for the analysis of the functional compartments of the forearm flexor muscles. The fingers were vibrated individually with pressure-activated drivers and the resultant motions within these muscles were imaged with a modified phase-contrast MR imaging technique that is highly sensitive to cyclic motion. The results show that this technique provides detailed mapping of the regions of the complex flexor muscle compartment that correspond to each digit for both the flexor digitorum profundus and the flexor digitorum superficialis. The results also demonstrate the extent of mechanical interdependence between flexors, offering potential methods for studying normal and abnormal hand and wrist biomechanics.