Resumen:
Background: Soleus injury is one of the most common soft tissue tears during sport
activities. Current classifications of muscle tears are based on symptoms and tear size and they do
not contribute suitable evidence-based treatment protocols. The objective of this study was to analyze
the most frequent echotexture findings of patients with soleus muscle injury, located in the central
intramuscular tendon (IMT), and healthy people to determine whether they behave differently and
to propose an ultrasound (US)-based classification. Methods: eighty-four athletes, who played in
sport activities comprising lower limbs. Echotexture characteristics of soleus muscle were reviewed
for 84 subjects. They were divided based on the muscle echogenicity in three groups (Injury Type
1 group, Injury type 2 group and healthy group). Echointensity (EI) and Echovariation (EV) were
taken in all groups like quantitative US variable. Results. The Injury Type 1 group was identified
by a hypoechoic area and characterized by a higher EV; and Injury Type 2 group was identified by
a fibrotic area and characterized by a lower EV. The echogenic pattern of healthy people obtained
an intermediate value of EV between ...