Non-invasive determination of pennation angle and/or fascicle length

1. An electronic device that determines a pennation angle and returns advice to a user, comprising:

at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; and

at least one processing unit that executes the instructions to:

receive 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 provided by pixels;

find a target muscle tissue in the ultrasound scan image by identifying fascial boundaries of the target muscle tissue in the ultrasound scan image using pixel values of the ultrasound scan image without reference to other ultrasound scan images;

generate a cropped image from the ultrasound scan image to focus on the target muscle tissue, the ultrasound scan image not having been previously cropped to focus on the target muscle tissue;

introduce noise into the pixels of the cropped image;

threshold the pixels of the cropped image to provide a binary image having structural elements of different sizes;

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

determine the pennation angle of the target muscle tissue using the morphed binary image to generate a determined pennation angle;

generate a comparison of the determined pennation angle to a desired pennation angle; and

return the advice to the user based on the comparison.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit determines the pennation angle by:

finding features in the morphed binary image;

measuring angles of the features; and

subtracting a portion of the measured angles from a reference fascia angle of a reference fascia.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processing unit determines:

a top pennation angle; and

a bottom pennation angle wherein the determined pennation angle is one of the top pennation angle or the bottom pennation angle.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processing unit generates at least one of:

a first portion of the ultrasound scan image by cropping the ultrasound scan image above the reference fascia; or

a second portion of the ultrasound scan image by cropping the ultrasound scan image below the reference fascia; wherein:

when the determined pennation angle is the top pennation angle, the cropped image is generated by cropping the ultrasound scan image above the reference fascia; and

when the determined pennation angle is the bottom pennation angle, the cropped image is generated by cropping the ultrasound scan image below the reference fascia.

5. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the reference fascia is a fascial boundary between at least one of:

a rectus femoris muscle and a vastus intermedius muscle; or

a vastus lateralis muscle and the vastus intermedius muscle.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing unit:

computes features in the morphed binary image;

finds a reference fascia in the morphed binary image using the computed features; and

determines a reference fascia angle for the reference fascia.

7. A non-invasive method of determining a pennation angle and returning advice to a user, comprising:

providing an ultrasound device having a movable transducer, the movable 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 movable transducer proximate to the subject and to the selected target area;

scanning the selected target area by processing ultrasound reflection received by the movable transducer to provide at least a partial scan image of the selected target area, the at least the partial scan image provided by pixels;

finding a target muscle tissue in the at least the partial scan image by identifying fascial boundaries of the target muscle tissue in the at least the partial scan image using pixel values of the at least the partial scan image without reference to other scan images;

generating a cropped image from the at least the partial scan image to focus on the target muscle tissue, the at least the partial scan image not having been previously cropped to focus on the target muscle tissue;

introducing noise into the pixels of the cropped image;

thresholding the pixels of the cropped 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;

generating a determined pennation angle of the target muscle tissue by analyzing the morphed binary image;

generating a comparison of the determined pennation angle to a desired pennation angle; and

returning the advice to the user based on the comparison.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising reporting an indication of the determined pennation angle.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the desired pennation angle is from at least one of a previous determination or a peer group.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the target muscle tissue is a fascial boundary between muscles.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the advice is related to how to achieve the desired pennation angle.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising evaluating fitness of the subject for an activity based on the determined pennation angle.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein generating the determined pennation angle is performed about contemporaneously with imaging the subject for another purpose.

14. A computer program product storing instructions executable to perform a method of determining a pennation angle and returning advice to a user, comprising:

a first set of instructions, stored in at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by at least one processing unit to receive 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 provided by pixels;

a second set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to find a target muscle tissue in the ultrasound scan image by identifying fascial boundaries of the target muscle tissue in the ultrasound scan image using pixel values of the ultrasound scan image without reference to other ultrasound scan images;

a third set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to generate a cropped image from the ultrasound scan image to focus on the target muscle tissue, the ultrasound scan image not having been previously cropped to focus on the target muscle tissue;

a fourth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to introduce noise into the pixels of the cropped image;

a fifth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to threshold the pixels of the cropped image to provide a binary image having structural elements of different sizes;

a sixth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to morph the structural elements of the binary image to remove small structural elements and connect large structural elements;

a seventh set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to distinguish muscle fiber of the target muscle tissue from remaining structural elements;

an eighth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to determine the pennation angle of the target muscle tissue from the muscle fiber to generate a determined pennation angle;

a ninth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to generate a comparison of the determined pennation angle to a desired pennation angle; and

a tenth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to return the advice to the user based on the comparison.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , further comprising an eleventh set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to determine a fascicle length from the muscle fiber.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising a twelfth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to:

report an indication of the fascicle length; or

compare the fascicle length to a peer group.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the target muscle tissue is a fascial boundary between muscles.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising a twelfth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to provide output based on the fascicle length related to altering the fascicle length.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising a twelfth set of instructions, stored in the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, executable by the at least one processing unit to evaluate fitness of a subject for an activity based on the fascicle length.