A condition involving the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, muscle atrophy can happen for a variety of reasons, but is typically a side-effect of degenerative disease, ageing or muscle disuse.

While physicians currently rely on MRI to assess whether a patient's muscle size and volume have deteriorated, frequent testing can be time-consuming and costly. However, the new study published in the journal 'IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering' suggests that an electromagnetic sensor made out of conductive 'e-threads' could be used as an alternative to frequent monitoring using MRI.