Congratulations to Jacqui for successfully obtaining her PhD with a thesis titled: “Shear Wave Elastography to Assess the Change in Stiffness of Muscles in the Acute Stage Post-Stroke” (which can be found here).
This thesis focused on the application of shear wave elastography in the musculoskeletal system. Patient and machine factors were controlled to determine their effect on muscle stiffness in order to optimise the reliability of shear wave elastography and increase understanding of muscle biomechanics. Shear wave elastography was then utilised to assess the stiffness of muscles in people who had experienced stroke within the past four weeks. The knowledge gained in this thesis paves the way to developing a new diagnostic test for musculoskeletal pathology and providing information to improve musculoskeletal rehabilitation after stroke.