{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,21]],"date-time":"2026-10-21T19:45:04Z","timestamp":1792611904783,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,11]],"date-time":"2022-10-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665446400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: While adolescents have specific risk factors for acute and chronic injury, there is a lack of preventive medicine algorithms for this vulnerable group. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is currently mainly used for assessing muscle and tendon stiffness in adult athletes and can diagnose tissue pathologies such as tendinopathy. The aim was to investigate differences in quadriceps tendon and muscle stiffness between adolescent and adult professional soccer players using SWE and identify lateral imbalances in order to improve the knowledge of preventive medicine algorithms for professional adolescent athletes. Methods: Standardized SWE examinations of both lower limb tendons and muscles (the quadriceps tendon (QT) and the vastus medialis (VM) muscle) in the longitudinal plane and relaxed tendon position were performed in 13 healthy adolescent soccer athletes (13\u201317 years), and a control group of 19 healthy adult professional soccer athletes (18\u201329 years). Results: Adolescent soccer players had lower stiffness values for both the quadriceps tendon (3.11 m\/s vs. 3.25 m\/s) and the vastus medialis muscle (1.67 m\/s vs. 1.71 m\/s) than adult athletes. Moreover, QT stiffness in adolescent soccer players was significantly lower on the right side (QT: adult 3.50 m\/s (2.73\u20134.56) vs. adolescent 2.90 m\/s (2.61\u20133.12); p = 0.031). Analysis of the lateral differences revealed softer QT and VM tissue on the right side in over two-thirds of adolescent soccer athletes. Over two-thirds of adults had stiffer QT and VM tissue on the right side. Conclusion: In adolescent soccer players, the stiffness of the QT and VM muscle measured by SWE is lower in the right leg. SWE of the musculoskeletal system may thus become a relevant diagnostic tool to detect early lateral imbalances as a main risk factor for injury and may thus contribute to the prevention of acute and chronic injury prevention in adolescent athletes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics12102453","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,11]],"date-time":"2022-10-11T22:18:13Z","timestamp":1665526693000},"page":"2453","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Muscle and Tendon Stiffness of the Lower Limb of Professional Adolescent Soccer Athletes Measured Using Shear Wave Elastography"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Claudia","family":"R\u00f6mer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Medicine, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Czupajllo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Medicine, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Enrico","family":"Zessin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Medicine, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Fischer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6501-3003","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bernd","family":"Wolfarth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Medicine, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Markus Herbert","family":"Lerchbaumer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, Charit\u00e9-Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"488","DOI":"10.1123\/pes.2016-0021","article-title":"The Adolescent Athlete: A Developmental Approach to Injury Risk","volume":"28","author":"McKay","year":"2016","journal-title":"Pediatr. 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Train."}],"container-title":["Diagnostics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/12\/10\/2453\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:49:47Z","timestamp":1760143787000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/12\/10\/2453"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,11]]},"references-count":39,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10]]}},"alternative-id":["diagnostics12102453"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics12102453","relation":{},"ISSN":["2075-4418"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2075-4418","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,11]]}}}