We recently updated the color maps for our muscle visualizations, within both our Interactive Viewer and the static PDF reports that we generate.
Muscle Size (Springbok Score), Left-Right Asymmetry, and Fat Infiltration each have new color palettes. The calculations backing these three metrics remain the same.
Read on to see what changes we made, why we made them, and how they will make it easier for you to interpret and gather insights from our analysis.
Our updated color map for our muscle size visualizations now ranges from a dark orange – to neutral grey – to dark purple.
This enhanced color scheme is designed to fade muscle groups that are within the expected range adjusted for height, weight, and biological sex, drawing attention more effectively to outliers at either end of the spectrum.
* Muscle size metrics for the upper body are coming soon.
Click here to read why muscle size is so important for performance, health and longevity.
Building muscle mass and sustaining muscle volume across one’s lifespan is critical for long-term health, the prevention of chronic disease, and quality of life.
As an independent and strong predictor of all-cause mortality, building and maintaining muscle mass and strength may help people to live longer, free of disease. Muscle mass can have a protective effect on health by building resilience to stress, namely by reducing chronic inflammation - when a person’s body is in a low-level fight or flight mode. Chronic inflammation is linked to several chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.
We’ve also made improvements to the L-R Asymmetry color map. The color binning has shifted from a bi-directional to a single-directional approach – color coding smaller muscles by the degree of imbalance.
This change will better highlight patterns of imbalances across the body, making it easier and faster for users to identify the most asymmetrical muscle pairs and which side is smaller.
Why does muscle balance matter? Read here and find out.
Understanding muscle asymmetry is crucial for contextualizing performance adaptations, understanding compensation during recovery, and developing predictive indices for injury in sport and among the general population. It is also important to understand normative ranges of asymmetry among athletes and people in general, as some level of asymmetry is likely to be present, and in some cases, necessary.
The color map for Fat Infiltration also now aligns with the trends of the other legends, with the darker colors indicating greater severity. Increasing percentages in fat infiltration will now be represented by darker colors, transitioning from pale yellow to brighter and darker orange.
What is fat infiltration? Learn more in our post here.
Intramuscular fat infiltration, also known as intramuscular adipose tissue, refers to the distribution and composition of fat within the skeletal muscles of an individual. It represents the extent to which fat is accumulated within the muscle fibers, contributing to the overall muscular composition. While a certain amount of intramuscular fat is normal and functional, an excessive or imbalanced composition of intramuscular fat can have implications for both muscle performance and metabolic health in humans.
All 3D analyses in the Springbok Interactive Viewer (online) will use the new color maps. Static reports from the date we launched these new colors (July, 2024) will feature the updated versions, and reports for analyses prior to this release date will feature our old color maps. These updates are part of our continued commitment to enhance your Springbok experience, ensuring that your data is presented in the most clear and actionable way possible.