In exercise prescription and training, a simple test that accurately evaluates abdominal strength without the use of a special device is required. This study aimed to examine the relationships between sit-ups and abdominal flexion strength tests and between both the above tests and the thickness of each abdominal muscle. Subjects comprised 13 healthy young males (age: 18.9 ± 0.64 yr, height: 17...

The practice of regional anaesthesia is rapidly changing with the introduction of ultrasound into the working domain of the anaesthesiologist. New techniques are being pioneered. Among the recent techniques, notable are the truncal blocks, for example, the transversus abdominis plane block, rectus sheath block, hernia block and quadratus lumborum block in the abdomen and the pectoral nerves (Pe...

The snake transversus abdominis muscle is an extremely simple segmentally repeating muscle containing 80 to 100 muscle fibers in a single-fiber-thick sheet. This muscle exhibits a striking pattern of muscle fiber types: twitch fibers alternate with tonic fibers and, among the twitch fibers, slower and faster contracting subtypes also alternate. Thus, in many regions of the muscle the pattern of...

1. Cobb, W. S., et al. (2015). “Open retromuscular mesh repair of complex incisional hernia: predictors of wound events and recurrence.” J Am CollSurg 220 (4): 606–613. 2. Novitsky, Y. W., et al. (2012). “Transversus abdominis muscle release: a novel approach to posterior component separation during complex abdominal wall reconstruction.” Am J Surg 204 (5): 709–716. 3. Krpata, D. M., et al. (20...

Ultrasound imaging has been previously utilized in the measurement of muscle thickness and cross-sectional area in research studies, and advocated as a clinical biofeedback tool in the rehabilitation of transversus abdominis function following episodes of low back pain. This paper describes how the thickness of the abdominal muscles can be quantified with a new measurement technique using M-mod...

1. Cobb, W. S., et al. (2015). “Open retromuscular mesh repair of complex incisional hernia: predictors of wound events and recurrence.” J Am CollSurg 220 (4): 606–613. 2. Novitsky, Y. W., et al. (2012). “Transversus abdominis muscle release: a novel approach to posterior component separation during complex abdominal wall reconstruction.” Am J Surg 204 (5): 709–716. 3. Krpata, D. M., et al. (20...

The use of truncal nerve blocks has been described since 2001. Since then, there have been many studies trying to understand the ideal clinical scenarios for its use. Since 2001, the transversus abdominis plane block has evolved in many ways including from landmark based technique to ultrasound guided and more recently, into the quadratus lumborum (QL) block. Its anatomical placement, concentra...

In this article, the authors describe their current operative technique for open ventral hernia repair using component separation. Although methods of anterior component separation are described, in their current practice, the authors primarily use posterior component separation with transversus abdominis release to permit dissection beyond the retrorectus space. This method adheres to the lite...