Non-invasive determination of muscle tissue size

1. A non-invasive method of determining muscle tissue size, comprising:

receiving an ultrasound scan image of at least a portion of a skin layer as disposed above one or more additional tissue layers, the ultrasound scan image comprising pixels;

introducing noise into the pixels of the ultrasound scan image;

thresholding the pixels of the ultrasound scan image to provide a binary image having structural elements of different sizes;

morphing the structural elements of the binary image to remove small structural elements and connect large structural elements;

distinguishing muscle tissue from remaining structural elements;

determining the muscle tissue size by doubling a dimension across the muscle tissue at a center of mass of the muscle tissue; and

determining a numeric muscle tissue size rating at least by comparing the muscle tissue size to a goal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein distinguishing the muscle tissue further includes evaluating at least a subset of the remaining structural elements.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein evaluating the at least the subset of the remaining structural elements includes determining, for each structural element, one or more characteristics selected from a group consisting of: area, the center of mass, and horizontal length.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the muscle tissue is distinguished to be a tissue layer between a topmost generally horizontal white band that is generally horizontally continuous across the binary image and a bottommost generally horizontal white band that is generally horizontally continuous across the binary image.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising imaging a selected portion of a subject's body with an ultrasound device having a movable transducer to provide the ultrasound scan image.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising using the imaging of a subject to determine a characteristic of the muscle tissue other than the muscle tissue size.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is repeated over time upon additional ultrasound scan images to evaluate the muscle tissue size over time.

8. A non-invasive method of determining muscle tissue size, comprising:

providing an ultrasound device having a transducer, the transducer operable in a high frequency range;

selecting a target area of a subject;

adjusting the ultrasound device for a depth of scan appropriate for the selected target area;

disposing the transducer proximate to the subject and perpendicular to the selected target area;

scanning the selected target area by processing ultrasound reflection received by the transducer to provide a scan image of the selected target area, the scan image comprising pixels;

introducing noise into the pixels of the scan image;

thresholding the pixels of the scan image to provide a binary image having structural elements of different sizes;

morphing the structural elements of the binary image to remove small structural elements and connect large structural elements;

distinguishing muscle tissue from remaining structural elements;

determining the muscle tissue size by doubling a dimension across the muscle tissue at a center of mass of the muscle tissue; and

determining a numeric muscle tissue size rating at least by comparing the muscle tissue size to a goal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the morphing is mathematical morphology.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the morphing includes applying a morphological function for opening.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising vertically cropping one or both sides of the scan image before introducing noise into a remaining central portion of the scan image.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein between 1/10 and ⅕ of the scan image is vertically cropped from the one or both sides.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the method is performed in real time.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising using an additional ultrasound scan image of another area of the subject to determine an additional muscle tissue size.

15. A non-invasive method of determining muscle tissue size, comprising:

receiving an ultrasound scan image of at least a portion of a skin layer as disposed above one or more additional tissue layers, and the ultrasound scan image comprising pixels;

introducing noise into the pixels of the ultrasound scan image;

thresholding the pixels of the ultrasound scan image to provide a binary image having structural elements of different sizes;

morphing the structural elements of the binary image to remove small structural elements and connect large structural elements;

distinguishing muscle tissue from remaining structural elements by identifying the muscle tissue as a largest element composed of contiguous pixels having a same value;

determining the muscle tissue size by doubling a dimension across the muscle tissue at a center of mass of the muscle tissue; and

determining a numeric muscle tissue size rating at least by comparing the muscle tissue size to a goal.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising reporting the muscle tissue size.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the goal is a muscle tissue size goal.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the goal is based on:

a historic muscle tissue size;

muscle tissue sizes of other subjects;

comparison of contralateral muscles; or

a performance objective.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the dimension across the muscle tissue extends in a direction defined as vertical with respect to a horizontal axis defined by the at least the portion of the skin layer.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the performance objective comprises an objective to balance similar muscles or to make a muscle sleeker.