Use of digital image correlation and ultrasound: analysis of thigh muscle displacement fields.

The understanding of the mechanical behavior of the muscle tissue is an important field of investigation with different applications in medicine, car crash and sport. Currently, few in vivo imaging techniques are able to characterize the mechanical properties of muscle. Thus, the development of an in vivo identification method is a current thematic where the displacement field measurements could be used for further interpretations. This study aims at presenting the displacement fields measured in the anterior, posterior, lateral and medial parts of the thigh muscles using ultrasound and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) techniques. The results of the displacement field measurements confirmed and are correlated with the ultrasound observations.