Structural and Textural Ultrasound Features of Gastrocnemius Medialis in Chronic Stroke: Associations with Functional Outcomes and Spasticity
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Stroke is a leading cause of disability, and post-stroke spasticity frequently impairs ankle mobility, strength, and gait. The gastrocnemius medialis (GM) is central to these deficits, yet the relationship between its ultrasound characteristics, functional outcomes, and spasticity severity remains unclear. This study aimed to compare structural and textural ultrasound features of the GM between individuals with chronic stroke presenting ankle spasticity and healthy controls, and to examine their associations with functional performance and spasticity severity. Methods: This case–control study included 26 individuals with stroke and 26 matched controls. Ultrasound assessments were performed using B-mode imaging to obtain parameters such as muscle thickness, pennation angle, and textural features (first-, second-, and higher-order). Functional measures included mobility (Timed Up and Go), walking speed (10-Meter Walk Test), ankle strength (dynamometry), and range of motion (goniometry). Spasticity was evaluated separately using the Modified Ashworth Scale. Results: No significant differences in GM ultrasound parameters were observed between groups or limbs (p > 0.05). Participants with stroke showed significantly reduced dorsiflexion mobility and lower strength for both plantarflexors and dorsalflexors. Correlations between ultrasound parameters and functional measures were not statistically significant; however, the effect size was consistently small. Spasticity severity did not significantly influence ultrasound findings. Conclusions: GM ultrasound parameters did not distinguish participants with stroke from controls or meaningfully correlate with function or spasticity. Functional impairments may stem primarily from neural mechanisms and compensatory motor strategies rather than muscle alterations detectable by ultrasound.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".