The Influence of the Pattern of Gripping the Ultrasound Head on the Activity of Upper Limb Muscles

This study examined differences in the activity of upper limb muscles according to how an ultrasound head is gripped. Twenty-two adult males were participated in the study. Each participant was asked to apply ultrasound treatment on to a lump of pork meat by two different ultrasound head grip patterns: spherical and cylindrical grips. Muscle activity was measured in the extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), and pronator teres (PT), triceps brachii (TB), middle deltoid (MD), and upper trapezius (UT) muscles. There were no significant differences in the EMG signals of any muscle according to the ultrasound head grip pattern (p>.05). There were significant differences in the EMG signal of each type of muscle (p<.05). The EMG signal of UT was the lowest and that of TB was lower than ECRL and FCU. There were interactions between ECRL and FCU, between ECRL and PT, between FCU and ECRL, and between FCU and MD. The EMG signal of ECRL using the cylindrical head was low and that of FCU with the cylindrical head was high, while the opposite was the case with the spherical head ($p_{adj}$ <.05/15). The results of this study indicate that the wrist muscles worked actively when the participants applied ultrasound therapy using both spherical and cylindrical heads. A spherical head might induce imbalanced muscle activity among the wrist muscles, leading to deviation of the wrist joint. Therefore, the cylindrical head is recommended for ultrasound therapy because it produced a constant, repeated force.

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