Effects of muscle kinematics on surface EMG amplitude and frequency during fatiguing dynamic contractions (original) (raw)
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Journal of PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY and Applied Human Science, 2001
The purpose of this study was to evaluate muscle fatigue using electromyogram (EMG) and acoustic myogram (AMG) signals of the shoulder and arm muscles during sustained holding tasks, with the elbow at different angles and at different levels of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). The EMG and AMG of four muscles, including the upper trapezius (TP), anterior deltoid (DL), biceps brachii (BB), and brachioradialis (BR), were recorded during experiments using 10 healthy young males. The experiments were conducted under 9 pairs of conditions: 3 elbow angles (120°, 90°, and 60°) and * 3 levels of %MVC (20%, 40%, and 60%). Subjects were instructed to hold a weight equal to the designated %MVC at designated joint angles and asked to maintain that condition for as long as possible until exhaustion. Joint angles were also recorded by the electrogoniometers. The analysis of variance revealed that there was no significant effect of elbow angle on the mean MVC or on the endurance time. Elbow angle showed a significant effect on mean power frequency (MPF) of EMG in DL, BB, and BR, and a significant effect on root mean square (RMS) of EMG in four muscles. In BB and BR, MPF of EMG at 120° was found to be significantly lower than 90° and 60°, respectively. There was a significant main effect of elbow angle on MPF of AMG for TP at 20% MVC; for DL at 20% and 40% MVC; for BB at 40% and 60% MVC; and for BR at the three levels of %MVC. The results showed that the range MPF of AMG for DL, BB, and BR was between 32 to 46 Hz, whereas that for TP was from 49 to 83 Hz. There was a significant effect of elbow angle on RMS of AMG in all four muscles in all experiments. At 20% MVC, a progressive increase in RMS of AMG was observed with time. In contrast, at 40% and 60% MVC, RMS showed very different behavior; specifically, it was found that RMS of AMG at 20% MVC significantly increased with increase of elbow angle. We conclude that RMS of AMG has a good and clear correlation with elbow angle at a low level of contraction.
EMG spectral indices and muscle power fatigue during dynamic contractions
2009
The purpose of this study was to examine acute exercise-induced changes on muscle power output and surface electromyography (sEMG) parameters (amplitude and spectral indices of muscle fatigue) during a dynamic fatiguing protocol. Fifteen trained subjects performed five sets consisting of 10 leg presses (10RM), with 2 min rest between sets. Surface electromyography was recorded from vastus medialis (VM) and lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles. A number of EMG-based parameters were compared for estimation accuracy and sensitivity to detect peripheral muscle fatigue. These were: Mean Average Voltage, median spectral frequency, Dimitrov spectral index of muscle fatigue (FI nsm5 ), as well as other parameters obtained from a time-frequency analysis (Choi-Williams distributions) such as mean and variance of the instantaneous frequency and frequency variance. The log FI nsm5 as a single parameter predictor accounted for 37% of the performance variance of changes in muscle power and the log FI nsm5 and MFM as a two factor combination predictor accounted for 44%. Peripheral impairments assessed by sEMG spectral index FI nsm5 may be a relevant factor involved in the loss of power output after dynamic high-loading fatiguing task.
Intramuscular and surface EMG power spectrum from dynamic and static contractions
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 1995
During sustained static contractions an increase in the root mean square (rms) amplitude and a decrease in mean power frequency (MPF), or median power frequency (MF) of the electromyographic (EMG) signal are indicators for the development of muscle fatigue. However, when studying dynamic contractions the interpretation of these variables has been questioned. Therefore, the purpose was to compare the EMG variables recorded from a non-fatigued muscle during a slow low level dynamic contraction to those during a static contraction of similar force level. Surface and intramuscular EMG registrations were obtained from the brachial biceps muscle during: (a) a static isotonic contraction, (b) a dynamic contraction and (c) a static anisotonic contraction. During contractions (a) and (b) the recruitment pattern was analysed using the precision decomposition method. No differences in rms, MPF or MF between the dynamic and static contractions or between the concentric and eccentric phase of the dynamic contraction were found. Furthermore 60% of the identified motor units were active both in the concentric and the eccentric phase. This indicates that motor control during a slow dynamic contraction at low force level does not influence the power spectrum. We suggest that in occupational studies a possible muscle fatigue development with time can be estimated using EMG recordings from the work tasks.
EMG frequency during isometric, submaximal activity: a statistical model for biceps brachii
The purpose of this study was to develop a statistical model to describe the electromyography (EMG) signal frequency changes during a submaximal isometric contraction. Thirty subjects performed a 30-second isometric contraction of the biceps brachii muscle at 80% of the maximal voluntary isometric force. Surface EMG electrodes recorded electrical activity of the biceps brachii. Zero-Crossing-Rate was calculated to identify EMG frequency shifts. The mean frequencies for every one-second period were used to calculate a linear relationship between frequency and time. A significant relationship ( p < 0.05) between slope and initial frequency value was identified. The model described EMG frequency changes during submaximal effort of biceps brachii up to 15 seconds. The prediction error was 9.8%. Modifying this equation to initial values of frequency of each participant decreased prediction error to 7.2%. These results demonstrate that despite individual differences between subjects it is possible to derive single equation that describes EMG alterations during submaximal, isometric contractions across a homogeneous group of people.
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 1999
The repeatability of initial value and rate of change of mean spectral frequency (MNF), average rectified values (ARV) and muscle fiber conduction velocity (CV) was investigated in the dominant biceps brachii of ten normal subjects during sustained isometric voluntary contractions. Four levels of contraction were studied: 10%, 30%, 50% and 70% of the maximal voluntary contraction level (MVC). Each contraction was repeated three times in each of three different days for a total of nine contractions/level/subject and 90 contractions per level across the ten subjects. Repeatability was investigated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the standard error of the mean (SEM) of the estimates for each subject. Contrary to observations in other muscles, CV estimates appeared to be very repeatable both within and between subjects. CV showed a small but significant increase when contraction force increased from 10% to 50% MVC but no change for further increase of force. As force increased, MNF showed a slight decrease possibly related to a wider spreading of the CV values. The rate of time decrement of MNF and CV increased with the level of contraction. The normalized decrement (% of initial value per second) was in general higher for MNF than for CV and was more repeatable between subjects at 10% MVC than at 70% MVC. A final observation is that a resting time of 5 minutes may not be sufficient after a contraction at 50% or 70% MVC.
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2006
The purpose of this study was to examine the electromyographic (EMG) instantaneous amplitude (IA) and instantaneous mean power frequency (IMPF) patterns for the biceps brachii muscle across a range of motion during maximal and submaximal concentric isokinetic muscle actions of the forearm flexors. Ten adults (mean ± SD age = 22.0 ± 3.4 years) performed a maximal and a submaximal [20% peak torque (PT)] concentric isokinetic forearm flexion muscle action at a velocity of 30°s À1 . The surface EMG signal was detected from the biceps brachii muscle with a bipolar electrode arrangement, and the EMG IA and IMPF versus time relationships were examined for each subject using first-and second-order polynomial regression models. The results indicated that there were no consistent patterns between subjects for EMG IA or IMPF with increases in torque across the range of motion. Some of the potential nonphysiological factors that could influence the amplitude and/or frequency contents of the surface EMG signal during a dynamic muscle action include movement of the muscle fibers and innervation zone beneath the skin surface, as well as changes in muscle fiber length and the thickness of the tissue layer between the muscle and the recording electrodes. These factors may affect the EMG IA and IMPF patterns differently for each subject, thereby increasing the difficulty of drawing any general conclusions regarding the motor control strategies that increase torque across a range of motion.
Variability of the EMG mean power frequency: A study on the trapezius muscle
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 1991
Calculation of the EMG mean power frequency (MPF) is a common procedure applied in evaluation of the frequency shift associated with local muscle fatigue. Variations of the MPF that are unrelated to muscle fatigue may jeopardize the estimation of the frequency shift. Different kinds of variation include random variation and systematic variation due to changes in posture or load. In a previous article we have evaluated the systematic linear variation of the MPF. The aim of the present study was to examine the random variation. Data sequences of 10 s, each obtained from nonfatigued trapezius muscle of 19 healthy subjects, were examined over a functional range of load and joint angles with multiple regression analysis. The random variation was evaluated with residual analysis. The residual standard deviation within the whole group was 10% for surface recordings and 13% for intramuscular recordings. If only within-subject variation was considered, the corresponding values were 5 and 8%. Based on this, confidence and prediction intervals for the regression models were calculated. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were *l-3% around the regression surfaces, whereas 95% prediction intervals for single measurements were as large as +20-26% for the whole group, and + 1 l-20% if only within-subject variations were considered. Assessment of localized muscle fatigue using single MPF estimates should therefore be avoided. Multiple measurements and regression analysis are discussed as methods to minimize the effects of random variations.
The amplitude distribution of surface EMG in static and intermittent static muscular performance
European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 1979
A measure of the variation of load on individual muscles or parts of muscles may be obtained by estimating the amplitude probability distribution function (APDF) of the myoelectric signal. In a study of elbow flexor muscular performance in static and intermittent static low level muscular contractions, the APDF was computed from the surface EMG obtained from the belly of the brachial biceps muscle. The APDF was also computed from the simultaneously recorded force signal. The APDF of the myoelectric signal and of the force signal were similar, indicating that the APDF of the myoelectric signal closely reflects the muscular load in non-fatiguing muscular contractions. The effect of the time constant in lowpass filtering when processing the surface EMG-signals was also studied. A suitable time constant appears to be in the range of 50-100 ms.
Variability and interrelationships of surface EMG parameters during local muscle fatigue
Muscle & Nerve, 1993
The inter‐and intraindividual variability of the frequency power density spectral and surface EMG amplitude parameters and of the muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) is studied in 26 healthy volunteers during fatiguing isometric ischemic intermittent exercise of the m, biceps brachii at 80% of the maximal voluntary contraction level, with a contraction rate of 30/min. No significant age effects were found. Males were significantly stronger compared with females. The higher initial SEMG amplitude and the strongershift of the frequency power density spectrum (PDS) to lower frequencies appear to be significantly correlated with males. Fatigue induces an almost proportional compression of the SEMG frequency content. The muscle fiber conduction velocity has the highest intraindividual reproducibility (r = 0.81). Despite the definite and strong influence of the MFCV on the PDS, the shift of the PDS can not be explained by a change of MFCV alone.© 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.