Fig 1.
Movement restriction and fascia injury methods.
(A) Hobble device used to induce movement restriction. (B) Location of fascia injury. (C) Location of fascia injury plane.
Fig 2.
Ultrasound data acquisition methods.
(A) Location of ultrasound images used for determination of fascia thickness. (B) Method used for acquisition of ultrasound cine-recording during passive trunk flexion.
Fig 3.
Location of tissue zones used for measurement of tissue thickness in ultrasound images.
D: dermis, SST: superficial subcutaneous tissue, DST: deep subcutaneous tissue, TF: thoracolumbar fascia.
Fig 4.
Pig growth over the course of the experiment.
There were no significant weight differences among groups at 0, 5, and 8 weeks.
Fig 5.
Gait speed (m/sec) was measured at week 8. There was a significant main effect of movement restriction on gait speed (ANOVA p = .03), but no significant effect of injury (ANOVA p = 2.56).
Fig 6.
Ultrasound measurements of tissue thickness.
The tissue thickness in four Zones (See Fig 3 for Zone locations) was measured at the L3-4 vertebral level on the non-intervention side. There was no significant difference in the combined thickness of dermis and superficial connective tissue (Zone 1) among groups (p = 0.60). The thickness of Zone 2 (deep subcutaneous tissue and perimuscular fascia), Zone 3 (deep subcutaneous tissue) and Zone 4 (perimuscular fascia) all were significantly greater in the injured pigs compared with the other groups (ANOVA, main effect of injury for p = .007 (Zone 2), p = .026 (Zone 3) p = .04 (Zone 4)).
Fig 7.
Perimuscular fascia shear strain measurements.
Both injury and movement restriction (hobble) led to a significant reduction in thoracolumbar fascia shear strain (ANOVA main effects of injury p = .027, and hobble p = .021). There was no significant interaction between the effects of injury and hobble.