查看文章

Athletic trainers typically use therapeutic ultrasound to treat skeletal muscle contusion injuries. However, the structural outcomes underlying this treatment are not well understood. Our working hypothesis was that following a blunt contusion injury to the gastrocnemius muscle, ultrasound treatment would facilitate recovery, as indicated by changes in several biological markers of skeletal muscle regeneration. Eighty male Wistar rats (three-month) were studied. Following anesthetic administration, each animal received a bilateral contusion injury to the gastrocnemius muscle. Pulsed ultrasound treatment was subsequently initiated six hours post-contusion injury unilaterally on the right gastrocnemius muscle, and ultrasound treatment was continued once daily for seven days. The left (non-ultrasound treated) and right (ultrasound treated) gastrocnemius muscles of 10 animals per group were excised at 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 14 …