Therapeutic ultrasound affects IGF-1 splice variant expression in human skeletal muscle.

Background: Animal models of skeletal muscle damage and repair demonstrate that therapeutic ultrasound (TUS) enhances muscle force recovery after damage, increases satellite cell proliferation, and decreases insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 splice variant (mechano growth factor) gene expression. However, these effects have not been verified in humans.

Purpose: This study was undertaken to examine the 3 known splice variants of the IGF-1 gene in human skeletal muscle after damage and TUS treatment.