Examination of the law of grotthus-draper: does ultrasound penetrate subcutaneous fat in humans?

Abstract

One benefit of ultrasound over infrared modalities is its ability to penetrate subcutaneous fat. The purpose of this study was to compare tissue temperature rise during ultrasound treatments in humans with various thicknesses of subcutaneous fat in the medial gastrocnemius. Twenty males served as subjects. A 23-gauge hypodermic needle microprobe was inserted 3-cm deep into the medial portion of the anesthetized gastrocnemius, and connected to a thermocouple temperature gauge. We applied 15 ml of ultrasound gel, preheated to body temperature (37 degrees C), to a 10-cm-diameter target area. Continuous ultrasound was delivered topically at 1.5 W/cm(2) for 10 minutes. During this time, the soundhead was moved at a speed of 4 cm per second, and the temperature was recorded every 30 seconds. The mean baseline temperature for all subjects was 35.4 degrees C. The mean temperature increase was 4.9 degrees C. We performed a regression analysis to test for correlation between fat thickness and tissue temperature rise of subjects. There was a small positive but insignificant correlation (r=.128). This supports the claim of Grotthus and Draper. Since subcutaneous fat does not serve as a barrier to therapeutic ultrasound, athletic trainers and physical therapists can expect comparable increases in muscle temperature when using this modality on people with varying thicknesses of adipose tissue.