The assesment of the hypertrophy produced by exercise in quadriceps muscle in patients with os- teoarthritis of the knees using computerized tomography

The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of CT area measurements in order to çuantify hypertrophy produced by exercise in quadriceps muscle in patient with osteoarthritis of the knee. Thirty patients with knee os- teoarthritis who diagnosed clinically and radiologically were divided into three groups each consists of ten sub- jects. The first group took part in isometric, the second group isometric Progressive resistance, and the third group Progressive resistance for 4 weeks. At the beginning and end of the treatment, computerized tomographic sections were taken from the thigh. One of the sections was taken from 10 cm above subpatellar margin for vas­ tus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis (VM), the other from midpoint of interline betvveen umbilicus and subpatellar end for vastus intermedius (VI) and rectus femoris (RF). Cross-sectional areas of the thigh, quadriceps totally, and the heads of the quadriceps were measured. İn addition, the circumference of the thigh was measured ma- nually. İsometric exercise (IE) produced hypertrophy only in RF (p<0.01), Progressive resistance exercise (PRE) in VM, VL, and VI (pcO.OI), and isometric Progressive resistance exercise (İPRE) in VM and VI (p<0.01), and VL (p<0.001). İn cotralateral thigh, PRE produced more hypertrophy than IPRE. The resistance exercises were more effective to produce hypertrophy in quadriceps muscle totally. Only in PRE group, the increase in cross-sectional areas and circumferences of the thigh were statistically significant. We conclude that the CT techniques are ne- cessary to asses the degree of muscle hypertrophy, and CT measurements provide more useful information than manual measurements of the circumference of the thigh.