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Sciatic nerve excursion during neural mobilization with ankle movement using dynamic ultrasound imaging: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Purpose

Ankle movement is used as a sensitizing maneuver for sciatica during neurodynamic techniques. In vivo studies on the sciatic nerve biomechanics associated with ankle movement during different positions of neighboring joints are scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate sciatic nerve excursion during ankle dorsiflexion in different positions in a healthy population.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study. High-resolution dynamic ultrasound imaging was used to measure longitudinal excursion of the sciatic nerve in the posterior thigh of 27 healthy participants during ankle dorsiflexion in six positions of the neck, hip, and knee. Both the long and short distance of the nerve excursion were measured. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for data analysis, and Eta squared (r) was used to quantify the effect size.

Results

Ankle dorsiflexion resulted in distal sciatic nerve excursion that was significantly higher in positions in which the knee was extended (median 0.7–1.6 mm) than in positions in which the knee was flexed (median 0.5–1.4 mm) (P ≤ 0.049, r ≥ 0.379). There were no significant differences in nerve excursion between positions where the neck was neutral compared with positions where the neck was flexed (P ≥ 0.710, r ≤ 0.072) or between positions where the hip was neutral compared with positions where the hip was flexed (P ≥ 0.456, r ≤ 0.143).

Conclusion

The positions of adjacent joints, particularly the knee, had an impact on the excursion of the sciatic nerve in the thigh during ankle movement.

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Availability of data and material

The datasets used and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The custom code used in this study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank all participants who volunteered to participate in this study.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agencies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 2435, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Ali M. Alshami & Fuad A. Abdulla

  2. Physical Therapy Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, 11564, Saudi Arabia

    Tadhi K. Alshammari

  3. Department of Radiology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO BOX 1982, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Mona I. AlMuhaish & Tarek M. Hegazi

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 1982, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia

    Mahbubunnabi Tamal

Authors
  1. Ali M. Alshami
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  2. Tadhi K. Alshammari
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  3. Mona I. AlMuhaish
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  4. Tarek M. Hegazi
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  5. Mahbubunnabi Tamal
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  6. Fuad A. Abdulla
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Contributions

AA conceived the idea and the design of the study, drafted the manuscript, analyzed and interpreted the data. TA wrote the initial draft, collected, analyzed, and interpreted the data. MA and TH performed the ultrasound imaging. MT created a new software code used in the work. FA interpreted the data. All authors revised the manuscript critically, approved the version to be published, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali M. Alshami.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was ethically approved by the local Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the institution (blinded for review) (PGS-2019-03-306, 4 November 2019). This study was in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was reported following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Alshami, A.M., Alshammari, T.K., AlMuhaish, M.I. et al. Sciatic nerve excursion during neural mobilization with ankle movement using dynamic ultrasound imaging: a cross-sectional study. J Ultrasound 25, 241–249 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-021-00595-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-021-00595-7

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