Feasibility of Distributed Wearable Ultrasound for Detecting Neuromuscular Coordination Differences After Knee Injury
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Objective
The aim of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility of a multi-channel distributed wearable ultrasound (D-WUS) system capable of simultaneously probing dynamic muscle activity across multiple anatomical sites to assess neuromuscular coordination during physical activity.
Methods
Twenty NCAA Division I women athletes (8 with prior knee injury) performed countermovement jumps (CMJs) on dual force plates while wearing a four-channel D-WUS system targeting the vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis oblique (VMO) in both limbs. Real-time M-mode ultrasound data were processed using a composite factorization approach integrating nonnegative matrix factorization and principal component analysis (CF-PCA) to extract dominant muscle-contraction patterns. Correlation and timing metrics between VL and VMO were compared across injury status.
Results
CMJ performance metrics (jump height, RSImod) did not differ between groups (p > 0.05). However, D-WUS revealed significant differences in muscle coordination in the right limb: VL–VMO correlation (p = 0.029) and timing symmetry (p = 0.019) were reduced in participants with prior knee injury; left-limb differences were not significant. Right-limb timing symmetry was negatively correlated with SMFA score (ρ = −0.48, p = 0.033). Functional survey scores (SMFA) also differed significantly (p = 0.001), while VISA-P scores did not.
Conclusion
These preliminary findings provide feasibility-level evidence that distributed wearable ultrasound can detect limb-specific neuromuscular coordination differences not reflected in force-plate biomechanics, motivating larger prospective studies to establish reliability and clinical utility.
Significance
With further validation, this approach may offer a scalable, objective means of monitoring muscle contraction during rehabilitation.
