The iliotibial band (ITB) is a unique anatomical structure that transmits forces from two in-series muscles across the lateral knee. Little is known about how force is transmitted, via ITB strain, in response to muscle activation. We have developed a technique to measure the strain through the distal ITB during isolated contractions of the tensor fascia latae (TFL) muscle, using a Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi ultrasound image tracking algorithm. Here we report: 1) the validity of this method to track ITB tissue displacement; 2) the reliability of tracking ITB strain across multiple contractions (intra-probe placement), tracking attempts (intra-operator), data collection sessions (inter-probe placement), and tracking operators (inter-operator); and 3) the feasibility of this approach to assess differences in strain produced during different TFL contraction levels. Our method was valid for tracking ITB displacement and could be used to determine tissue strain due to isolated muscle contraction. Our method was most reliable when a single operator tracked trials without replacing the ultrasound transducer and when averaging across multiple stimulations. Our method was also able to detect changes in ITB strains resulting from differing levels of muscle activation. In the future, this method could be used to assess how factors like posture and ITB region affect the strain found in the distal ITB.
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