Non-invasive determination of pennation angle and/or fascicle length

Abstract

Provided is a non-invasive system and method of determining pennation angle and/or fascicle length based on image processing. An ultrasound scan image is processed to facilitate distinguishing of muscle fiber and tendon. The processed ultrasound scan image is then analyzed. The pennation angle and/or fascicle length is determined based on the analysis. An example method includes receiving an ultrasound scan image of at least a portion of a skin layer as disposed above one or more additional tissue layers, the image provided by a plurality of pixels. The method continues by introducing noise into the pixels of the image and thresholding the pixels of the image to provide a binary image having a plurality of structural elements of different sizes. The method continues with morphing the structural elements of the binary image to remove small structural elements and connect large structural elements. With this resulting image, the method distinguishes muscle fiber and tendon from remaining elements and determines the pennation angle and/or the fascicle length from the muscle fiber and the tendon. Associated apparatuses and computer program products are also disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device that determines a muscle characteristic and returns advice to a user, comprising:
 at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; and   at least one processor that executes the instructions to:
 process an ultrasound scan image to generate a processed image in order to simplify distinguishing a target muscle tissue in the processed image, wherein the processing of the ultrasound scan image comprises:
 introducing noise; 
 thresholding; 
 removing a first element; 
 joining second elements that are larger than the first element; and 
 cropping the ultrasound scan image to focus on the target muscle tissue; 
 
 distinguish the target muscle tissue in the processed image; 
 use the processed image to determine the muscle characteristic of the target muscle tissue, thereby providing a determined muscle characteristic; 
 determine whether the determined muscle characteristic is less than or greater than a desired muscle characteristic; and 
 return the advice to the user based on the muscle characteristic being less than or greater than the desired muscle characteristic; 
   wherein the advice is related to making the muscle characteristic become more like the desired muscle characteristic.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor provides a rating based on the muscle characteristic being less than or greater than the desired muscle characteristic. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the muscle characteristic is at least one of muscle thickness, pennation angle, or fascicle length. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the advice relates to protein intake. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the cropping crops a portion of the ultrasound scan image below the target muscle tissue. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the advice relates to carbohydrate intake. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the advice relates to a specific exercise. 
     
     
         8 . A non-invasive method of determining a muscle characteristic and returning advice to a user, comprising:
 processing a scan image to generate a processed image in order to simplify distinguishing a target muscle tissue in the processed image, wherein the processing of the scan image comprises:
 introducing noise; 
 thresholding; 
 removing a first element; 
 joining second elements that are larger than the first element; and 
 cropping the scan image to focus on the target muscle tissue; 
   distinguishing the target muscle tissue in the processed image;   determining the muscle characteristic of the target muscle tissue by analyzing the processed image, thereby providing a determined muscle characteristic;   determining whether the determined muscle characteristic is less than or greater than a desired muscle characteristic; and   returning the advice to the user based on the determined muscle characteristic being less than or greater than the desired muscle characteristic;   wherein the advice is related to making the muscle characteristic to become more like the desired muscle characteristic.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising reporting a comparison of the determined muscle characteristic to the desired muscle characteristic. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the desired muscle characteristic is previously determined. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the desired muscle characteristic is associated with another user. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the advice is related to changes in physical activity. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the muscle characteristic is at least one of muscle thickness, pennation angle, or fascicle length. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the advice includes text. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable to perform a method of determining a muscle characteristic and returning advice to a user, comprising:
 a first set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by at least one processor to process an ultrasound image to generate a processed image in order to simplify distinguishing a target muscle tissue in the processed image, wherein the processing of the ultrasound image comprises:
 introducing noise; 
 thresholding; 
 removing a first element; 
 joining second elements that are larger than the first element; and 
 cropping the ultrasound image to focus on the target muscle tissue; 
   a second set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to distinguish the target muscle tissue in the processed image;   a third set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to distinguish muscle fiber of the target muscle tissue from remaining structural elements;   a fourth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to determine the muscle characteristic of the target muscle tissue, thereby providing a determined muscle characteristic;   a fifth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to determine whether the determined muscle characteristic is less than or greater than a desired muscle characteristic; and   a sixth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to return the advice to the user based on the desired muscle characteristic being less than or greater than the desired muscle characteristic;   wherein the advice is related to making the muscle characteristic to become more like the desired muscle characteristic.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the advice is related to increasing or decreasing the muscle characteristic. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising an eighth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to present the determined muscle characteristic. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the desired muscle characteristic corresponds to a goal for the user. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the desired muscle characteristic is selected based on at least one of an age of the user, a gender of the user, an occupation of the user, or a sport engaged in by the user. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising an eighth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processor to evaluate the user based on the muscle characteristic.