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Tendon Cross Sectional Area Is Not Associated With Muscle Volume MSSE May 2014 - Volume 46 - Supplement 1 5S p47 Atsuki Fukutani Tendon configuration is considered to be related to the tendon injury. Recently, some studies have reported that resistance training increases tendon cross sectional area (CSA), whereas other studies did not show increase in tendon CSA. We hypothesized that tendon CSA would not be associated with muscle hypertrophy. If the tendon CSA increases by resistance training, resistance-trained men would have larger tendon CSA than non-trained men. PURPOSE: To compare tendon CSA between resistance-trained men and non-trained men. METHODS: Sixteen of body builders or rugby players (21.3 ± 3.4 years, 1.73 ± 0.06 m, 83.6 ± 9.3 kg) were recruited as the Training group. In contrast, eleven of men who have no experience of regular resistance training (20.3 ± 2.1 years, 1.70 ± 0.06 m, 54.0 ± 4.7 kg) were recruited as the Control group. Tendon CSA and muscle volume of triceps brachii (TB), quadriceps femoris (QF) and triceps surae (TS) were calculated from magnetic resonance images. The cross sectional images of tendon were obtained with 5 mm interval, and mean values of the tendon area calculated by three images were adopted as tendon CSA. In QF and TS, aforementioned tendon CSA was obtained in both proximal and distal portion of the tendon. Muscle volume was obtained by the cross sectional images obtained with 20 mm interval, and was calculated by the integration of each muscle area through the proximal and distal end of each muscle. RESULTS: Muscle volume of three muscles were significantly larger in Training group than in Control group (TB: Training 626.0 ± 99.8 cm3, Control 243.1 ± 28.2 cm3, QF: Training 2525.5 ± 251.8 cm3, Control 1388.2 ± 141.6 cm3 , TS: Training 915.9 ± 145.4 cm3, Control 595.2 ± 95.1 cm3, p < 0.001 in all muscles). On the other hand, a significant difference in tendon CSA was found only in lower portion of TS tendon (Training 100.8 ± 14.6 mm2, Control 92.8 ± 9.6 mm2, p = 0.041). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that tendon CSA is not associated with muscle volume, suggesting that long-term of resistance training does not increase tendon CSA.