Anatomical study of the soleus: Application to improved imaging diagnoses.

INTRODUCTION: Strains of the soleus are widely found both in amateur and professional athletes. For their accurate regional diagnoses, understanding the anatomy of the spatial relationship between muscular fibers and tendinous structures is important because their interfaces are susceptible sites to muscle strains. Therefore, this study evaluated the precise architecture of the soleus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated the precise anatomical architecture of the soleus in 87 formaldehyde-fixed soleus muscles. To calculate mean relative physiological cross-sectional area of each muscular fiber compartment, we measured the fiber length, volume, and pennation angle in isolated compartments. RESULTS: The posterior soleus surface was covered by a broad aponeurotic posterior insertion tendon (PIT), which continued inferiorly to the insertion tendon. The anterior surface had three aponeurotic origin tendons, lateral origin tendon (LOT), medial origin tendon (MOT), and tendinous arch, which were arranged along the soleus margins. The anterior bipennate muscle portion (ABP), surrounded by the three origin structures, terminated as the sagittal insertion tendon (SIT), which continued inferiorly to PIT. The posterior main muscle portion behind LOT and MOT was separated into lateral and medial portions by the SIT. The soleus thus possessed a broad musculotendinous junction. Furthermore, ABP exhibited wide structural diversity in shape and size: in extreme cases, it was duplicated or absent. CONCLUSION: Systematic anatomical descriptions of the soleus will be useful for accurate regional diagnosis of its strains with magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography.

The effectiveness of a mouth guard to protect against strong occlusion caused by modified electroconvulsive therapy.

Modified electroconvulsive therapy (m-ECT) is a treatment for mental disease such as depressive disorder. Although a muscle relaxant is used during current application, strong occlusion occurs due to the proximity of the electrode to the temporal and masseter muscles. Although a feedback mechanism to avoid excessive occlusion occurs unconsciously, the mechanism does not work under general anesthesia. Strong occlusion may cause complications such as tooth injury, pain of the jaw, lip laceration, and bleeding of the gums. Although there was a report that the insertion of shock-absorbing materials such as gauze reduces complications, there has been no study on the effectiveness of a mouth guard (MG) for alleviating the occlusal force during m-ECT. The present study investigated the effectiveness of MG for alleviation of the occlusal force and complications during m-ECT. An ethyl-vinyl-acetate (EVA) MG was used as a shock absorbing material to mitigate the strong occlusion during m-ECT to investigate the influence of MG on the occlusal force and its effectiveness. The results showed that the occlusal force was alleviated by 58 ± 22% on average using MG during m-ECT. It also helped reduce intra-oral problems such as pain and bleeding. The results suggest the effectiveness of MG for alleviating the occlusal force during m-ECT and avoiding complications due to strong occlusion.