Effects of electrocardiography contamination and comparison of ECG removal methods on upper trapezius electromyography recordings

Electromyography (EMG) recordings from the trapezius are often contaminated by the electrocardiography (ECG) signal, making it difficult to distinguish low-level muscle activity from muscular rest. This study investigates the influence of ECG contamination on EMG amplitude and frequency estimations in the upper trapezius during muscular rest and low-level contractions. A new method of ECG contamination removal, filtered template subtraction (FTS), is described and compared to 30 Hz high-pass filter (HPF) and averaged template subtraction (ATS) methods. FTS creates a unique template of each ECG artifact using a low-pass filtered copy of the contaminated signal, which is subtracted from contaminated periods in the original signal. ECG contamination results in an over-estimation of EMG amplitude during rest in the upper trapezius, with negligible effects on amplitude and frequency estimations during low-intensity isometric contractions. FTS and HPF successfully removed ECG contamination from periods of muscular rest, yet introduced errors during muscle contraction. Conversely, ATS failed to fully remove ECG contamination during muscular rest, yet did not introduce errors during muscle contraction. The relative advantages and disadvantages of different ECG contamination removal methods should be considered in the context of the specific motor tasks that require analysis.     

Comparison between muscle activation measured by electromyography and muscle thickness measured using ultrasonography for effective muscle assessment

In this study, we aimed to compare the intrarater reliability and validity of muscle thickness measured using ultrasonography (US) and muscle activity via electromyography (EMG) during manual muscle testing (MMT) of the external oblique (EO) and lumbar multifidus (MF) muscles. The study subjects were 30 healthy individuals who underwent MMT at different grades. EMG was used to measure the muscle activity in terms of ratio to maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and root mean square (RMS) metrics. US was used to measure the raw muscle thickness, the ratio of muscle thickness at MVC, and the ratio of muscle thickness at rest. One examiner performed measurements on each subject in 3 trials. The intrarater reliabilities of the % MVC RMS and raw RMS metrics for EMG and the % MVC thickness metrics for US were excellent (ICC = 0.81–0.98). There was a significant difference between all the grades measured using the % MVC thickness metric (p < 0.01). Further, this % MVC thickness metric of US showed a significantly higher correlation with the EMG measurement methods than with the others (r = 0.51–0.61). Our findings suggest that the % MVC thickness determined by US was the most sensitive of all methods for assessing the MMT grade.     

Postural control and thigh muscle activity in men with knee osteoarthritis

The aim of this study was to examine the standing balance and the function of vastus medialis (VM) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles with surface electromyography (EMG). Fifty-four subjects with uni- or bilateral knee osteoarthritis (OA) (aged 50–69 years) and 53 age-matched randomly selected clinically and radiologically healthy men participated in this study. Postural control was assessed on a force platform with a bipedal stance with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC) and a monopedal stance with EO. The balance parameters, mean sway velocity, velocity along AP and ML axes, elliptical area, standard deviation of center of pressure, average radial displacement, mean frequency and frequency domain balance parameters and different power spectral density frequency bands were determined. Root mean square (RMS) for EMG amplitude, mean EMG frequency (f_EMG,mean) and median EMG frequency (f_EMG,med) of motor unit activity were calculated from the normalized EMG data. During bipedal stance with EC and EO, there were no significant differences in balance parameters between groups, but during bipedal stance with EO, the RMS in VM was about 56% higher (p < 0.05) in subjects with knee OA than in the control subjects and the values of f_EMG,mean and f_EMG,med were about 48% higher (p < 0.05) in control subjects than subjects with knee OA. It is concluded that subjects with knee OA do not have any standing balance deficit, but they do exhibit increased muscle activity in VM muscle compared to control subjects.     

Quantification of abdominal and pelvic floor muscle synergies in response to voluntary pelvic floor muscle contractions

The relative levels of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) activation and pressure generated by maximum voluntary PFM contractions were investigated in healthy continent women. The normal sequence of abdominal and PFM activation was determined.Fifteen women performed single and repeated maximum voluntary PFM contractions in supine, sitting and standing. PFM electromyographic (EMG) signals and associated intra-vaginal pressure data were recorded simultaneously. Surface EMG data were recorded from rectus abdominus (RA), external obliques (EO), internal obliques (IO) and transversus abdominus (TA).Abdominal and PFM EMG and intra-vaginal pressure amplitudes generated during voluntary PFM contractions were not different among the positions. Muscle activation sequence differed by position. In supine, EO activation preceded all other muscles by 27 ms (p = 0.043). In sitting, all of the muscles were activated simultaneously. In standing, RA and EO were activated 11 and 17 ms, respectively, prior to the PFMs and TA and IO were activated 10 and 12 ms, respectively, after the PFMs (p ≪ 0.001).The results suggest that women are able to perform equally strong PFM contractions in supine, sitting and standing, however the pattern of abdominal and PFM activation varies by position. These differences may be related to position-dependent urine leakage in women with stress incontinence.     

Assessment of time patterns of activity and rest in full-shift recordings of trapezius muscle activity – Effects of the data processing procedure

The purpose of this paper was to compare the effects of different data reduction procedures on the values of variables characterizing the time pattern of trapezius muscle activity during full work shifts. Surface electromyography (EMG) of the right and left upper trapezius muscles were obtained from 40 young subjects in different occupations, mainly electricians, hairdressers and students. The target EMG variables were gap frequency, muscle rest, and the number and duration of episodes with sustained muscle activity (from 0.13 s to 30 min as minimum duration). These variables were derived from the EMG recordings using different Root Mean Square (RMS) windows (from 0.13 to 6.38 s), and discrimination levels between “activity” and “rest” (0.5%, 1% and 2% of maximal EMG).The results give basis for practical suggestions for EMG analyses of full work shifts. For most variables, a discrimination level of 0.5% EMG_max showed to be preferable. The time proportion of muscle rest and sustained muscle activity should, in general, be preferred over the corresponding frequency measures. Sustained muscle activity should be calculated using a RMS window between 1 and 3 s, and preferably be stated in terms of variables describing time proportions of activity. Uninterrupted activity episodes longer than 10 min proved not to be a useful variable due to limited occurrence in many work shifts.     

Muscular forearm activation in hand-grip tasks with superimposition of mechanical vibrations

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the muscular activation of the forearm, with or without vibration stimuli at different frequencies while performing a grip tasks of 45 s at various level of exerted force. In 16 individuals, 9 females and 7 males, the surface electromyogram (EMG) of extensor carpi radialis longus and the flexor carpi ulnari muscles were assessed. At a short latency from onset EMG, RMS and the level of MU synchronization were assessed to evaluate the muscular adaptations. Whilst a trend of decay of EMG Median frequency (MDF_d) was employed as an index of muscular fatigue. Muscular tasks consists of the grip of an instrumented handle at a force level of 20%, 30%, 40%, 60% of the maximum voluntary force. Vibration was supplied by a shaker to the hand in mono-frequential waves at 20, 30, 33 and 40 Hz. In relation to EMG, RMS and MU synchronization, the muscular activation does not seem to change with the superimposition of the mechanical vibrations, on the contrary a lower MDF_d was observed at 33 Hz than in absence of vibration. This suggests an early muscular fatigue induced by vibration due to the fact that 33 Hz is a resonance frequency for the hand-arm system.     

Between-day reliability of a hand-held dynamometer and surface electromyography recordings during isometric submaximal contractions in different shoulder positions

Functional shoulder assessments require the use of objective and reliable standardized outcome measures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the between-day reliability of a hand-held dynamometer when measuring muscle strength during flexion, abduction, and internal and external rotation as well as surface electromyography (EMG) when measuring muscle activity from m. trapezius superior and deltoideus anterior. Twenty-four healthy subjects participated and performed four isometric contractions measured with a hand-held dynamometer and EMG. Both relative and absolute reliability were calculated based on the mean of the last three of the four repetitions. EMG amplitude was assessed calculating both absolute and normalized root-mean-square (RMS) values. The reliability of the hand-held dynamometer was high (LOA = 3.2–7.6% and ICC = 0.89–0.98). The absolute reliability for EMG showed similar results for absolute RMS values (LOA = 20.0–68.4%) and normalized RMS values (LOA = 42.4–66.5%). However, the results concerning the relative reliability showed higher ICC for absolute RMS values (ICC = 0.82–0.92) compared with normalized values (ICC = 0.57–0.72).The outcome measurements of this study with healthy subjects were found reliable and, therefore, have the potential to detect changes in muscle strength and muscle activity.     

Spatial reorganisation of muscle activity correlates with change in tangential force variability during isometric contractions

The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of spatial reorganisation of muscle activity on task-related and tangential components of force variability during sustained contractions. Three-dimensional forces were measured from isometric elbow flexion during submaximal contractions (50 s, 5–50% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)) and total excursion of the centre of pressure was extracted. Spatial electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from the biceps brachii muscle. The centroids of the root mean square (RMS) EMG and normalised mutual information (NMI) maps were computed to assess spatial muscle activity and spatial relationship between EMG and task-related force variability, respectively. Result showed that difference between the position of the centroids at the beginning and at the end of the contraction of the RMS EMG and the NMI maps were different in the medial–lateral direction (P < 0.05), reflecting that muscle regions modulate their activity without necessarily modulating the contribution to the task-related force variability over time. Moreover, this difference between shifts of the centroids was positively correlated with the total excursion of the centre of pressure at the higher levels of contractions (>30% MVC, R² > 0.30, P < 0.05), suggesting that changes in spatial muscle activity could impact on the modulation of tangential forces. Therefore, within-muscle adaptations do not necessarily increase force variability, and this interaction can be quantified by analysing the RMS EMG and the NMI map centroids.     

Electromyographic mapping of the erector spinae muscle with varying load and during sustained contraction

The purpose of the study was to explore changes in the spatial distribution of erector spinae electromyography amplitude during static, sustained contractions and during contractions of increasing load. Surface electromyographic (EMG) signals were detected from nine healthy subjects using a grid of 13 × 5 electrodes placed unilaterally over the lumbar erector spinae musculature. Subjects stood in a 20° forward flexed position and performed: (1) six 20-s long contractions with loads ranging from 2.5 kg to 12.5 kg (2.5 kg increments) and (2) a 6 min sustained contraction with 7.5 kg load. Root mean square (RMS) and mean power spectral frequency (MNF) were computed from the recorded EMG signals. EMG RMS increased (P < 0.0001) and MNF remained constant during contractions of increased load. During the sustained contraction, MNF decreased (P < 0.0001) and RMS did not change over time. The centroid (center of activity) of the RMS map shifted caudally (P < 0.0001) with time during the sustained contraction but did not change with varying load. These results suggest a change in the distribution of erector spinae muscle activity with fatigue and a uniform distribution of muscle activation across loads.     

Effect of electrocardiographic contamination on surface electromyography assessment of back muscles

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the relative effect of electrocardiography (ECG) on back muscle surface electromyography (SEMG) parameters and their corresponding sensitivity in low back pain (LBP) assessment.Back muscle SEMG activities were recorded from 17 healthy subjects and 18 chronic LBP patients under static postures (straight sitting and upright standing), and dynamic action (flexion–extension). ECG cancellation based on independent component analysis (ICA) method was performed. Root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) of raw and denoised SEMG data were computed respectively. Multiple comparisons were then performed.A consistent trend of change (increased MF and decreased RMS) followed ECG removal was noticed. In particular, in SEMG measurements under static postures, a significant decrease in RMS (p < 0.05) and increase in MF (p < 0.05) were found in all recording muscle groups. Level of corruption by ECG artifacts on SEMG measurements was found to be more serious and prominent in static postures than that in dynamic action. After ECG removal, significant improvements in the ability of SEMG to discriminate LBP patients from healthy subjects were seen in RMS amplitude recorded while standing (p < 0.05) and MF in all measuring conditions (p < 0.05).This study provides a more complete understanding on the relative effect of ECG contamination on back muscles SEMG parameters and LBP assessment.     

The acute effects of local muscle vibration frequency on peak torque,rate of torque development,and EMG activity

PurposeVibratory stimuli enhance muscle activity and may be used for rehabilitation and performance enhancement. Efficacy of vibration varies with the frequency of stimulation, but the optimal frequency is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 30 Hz and 60 Hz local muscle vibration (LMV) on quadriceps function.MethodsTwenty healthy volunteers (age = 20.4 ± 1.4 years, mass = 68.1 ± 11.0 kg, height = 170.1 ± 8.8 cm, males = 9) participated. Isometric knee extensor peak torque (PT), rate of torque development (RTD), and electromyography (EMG) of the quadriceps were assessed followed by one of the three LMV treatments (30 Hz, 60 Hz, control) applied under voluntary contraction, and again immediately, 5, 15, and 30 min post-treatment in three counterbalanced sessions. Dependent variables were analyzed using condition by time repeated-measures ANOVA.ResultsThe condition × time interaction was significant for EMG amplitude (p = 0.001), but not for PT (p = 0.324) or RTD (p = 0.425). The increase in EMG amplitude following 30 Hz LMV was significantly greater than 60 Hz LMV and control.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that 30 Hz LMV may elicit an improvement in quadriceps activation and could be used to treat quadriceps dysfunction resulting from knee pathologies.     

The minimum number of contractions required to examine the EMG amplitude versus isometric force relationship for the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis

Studies have demonstrated that the electromyographic (EMG) amplitude versus submaximal isometric force relationship is relatively linear. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the minimum number of contractions required to study this relationship. Eighteen men (mean age = 23 years) performed isometric contractions of the leg extensors at 10–90% of the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) in 10% increments while surface EMG signals were detected from the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis. Linear regression was used to determine the coefficient of determination, slope coefficient, and y-intercept for each muscle and force combination with successively higher levels included in the model (i.e., 10–30%, … 10–90% MVC). For the slope coefficients, there was a main effect for force combination (P < .001). The pairwise comparisons showed there was no difference from 10–60% through 10–90% MVC. For the y-intercepts, there were main effects for both muscle (vastus lateralis [4.3 μV RMS] > vastus medialis [−3.7 μV RMS]; P = .034) and force combination (P < .001), with similar values shown from 10–50% through 10–90% MVC. The linearity of the absolute EMG amplitude versus isometric force relationship for the vastus lateralis and vastus medialis suggests that investigators may exclude high force contractions from their testing protocol.     

Alternating activation is related to fatigue in lumbar muscles during sustained sitting

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between variability in muscle activity and fatigue during a sustained low level contraction in the lumbar muscles. Twenty-five healthy participants (13 men 12 women) performed a 30 min sitting task with 5 degrees inclination of the trunk. Surface electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded bilaterally from the lumbar muscles with 2 high density surface EMG grids of 9 × 14 electrodes. Median frequency (MDF) decrease, amplitude (RMS) increase and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were used as fatigue indices. Alternating activation and spatial and temporal variability were computed and relations with the fatigue indices were explored. During sitting, the mono- and bipolar RMS slightly increased while the MDF remained unchanged indicating no systematic muscle fatigue, although the average RPE increased from 6 to 13 on a scale ranging between 6 and 20. Higher frequency of alternating activation between the left and right side was associated with increased RPE (p = 0.03) and decreased MDF (p = 0.05). A tendency in the same direction was seen between increased spatial and temporal variation within the grids and increased RPE and decreased MDF. Present findings provide evidence for a relationship between variability in muscle activity and fatigue.     

Electrode placement over the innervation zone affects the low-, not the high-frequency portion of the EMG frequency spectrum

The purpose of this study was to use a wavelet-based signal processing technique to examine the influence of electrode placement over the innervation zone (IZ) on the shape of the electromyographic (EMG) frequency spectrum. Ten healthy males (mean ± SD age = 23.6 ± 3.0 years) performed isometric muscle actions of the dominant leg extensors at 10%, 40%, 70%, and 100% of the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Surface EMG signals were detected simultaneously from the vastus lateralis with two bipolar electrode arrangements. One of the electrode arrangements had its center point located directly over the IZ, while the other arrangement had its center point distal to the IZ (i.e., 20 mm away). All EMG signals were processed with a wavelet-based procedure. The results showed that for all isometric torque levels, the EMG signals from the distal electrode arrangement demonstrated greater total intensity values than those for the IZ arrangement for frequencies ranging from approximately 2 to 110 Hz. There were no consistent differences, however, between the IZ and distal electrode arrangements for total EMG intensity values above 110 Hz. Thus, these findings indicated that electrode placement over the IZ affected primarily the low-, rather than the high-frequency portion of the EMG frequency spectrum.     

Electromyography responses of pediatric and young adult volunteers in low-speed frontal impacts

No electromyography (EMG) responses data exist of children exposed to dynamic impacts similar to automotive crashes, thereby, limiting active musculature representation in computational occupant biomechanics models. This study measured the surface EMG responses of three neck, one torso and one lower extremity muscles during low-speed frontal impact sled tests (average maximum acceleration: 3.8 g; rise time: 58.2 ms) performed on seated, restrained pediatric (n = 11, 8–14 years) and young adult (n = 9, 18–30 years) male subjects. The timing and magnitude of the EMG responses were compared between the two age groups. Two normalization techniques were separately implemented and evaluated: maximum voluntary EMG (MVE) and neck cross-sectional area (CSA). The MVE-normalized EMG data indicated a positive correlation with age in the rectus femoris for EMG latency; there was no correlation with age for peak EMG amplitudes for the evaluated muscles. The cervical paraspinous exhibited shorter latencies compared with the other muscles (2–143 ms). Overall, the erector spinae and rectus femoris peak amplitudes were relatively small. Neck CSA-normalized peak EMG amplitudes negatively correlated with age for the cervical paraspinous and sternocleidomastoid. These data can be useful to incorporate active musculature in computational models, though it may not need to be age-specific in low-speed loading environments.     

A novel approach for removing ECG interferences from surface EMG signals using a combined ANFIS and wavelet

In recent years, the removal of electrocardiogram (ECG) interferences from electromyogram (EMG) signals has been given large consideration. Where the quality of EMG signal is of interest, it is important to remove ECG interferences from EMG signals. In this paper, an efficient method based on a combination of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and wavelet transform is proposed to effectively eliminate ECG interferences from surface EMG signals. The proposed approach is compared with other common methods such as high-pass filter, artificial neural network, adaptive noise canceller, wavelet transform, subtraction method and ANFIS. It is found that the performance of the proposed ANFIS–wavelet method is superior to the other methods with the signal to noise ratio and relative error of 14.97 dB and 0.02 respectively and a significantly higher correlation coefficient (p < 0.05).     

Epoch length to accurately estimate the amplitude of interference EMG is likely the result of unavoidable amplitude cancellation

Researchers and clinicians routinely rely on interference electromyograms (EMGs) to estimate muscle forces and command signals in the neuromuscular system (e.g., amplitude, timing, and frequency content). The amplitude cancellation intrinsic to interference EMG, however, raises important questions about how to optimize these estimates. For example, what should the length of the epoch (time window) be to average an EMG signal to reliably estimate muscle forces and command signals? Shorter epochs are most practical, and significant reductions in epoch have been reported with high-pass filtering and whitening. Given that this processing attenuates power at frequencies of interest (<250 Hz), however, it is unclear how it improves the extraction of physiologically relevant information. We examined the influence of amplitude cancellation and high-pass filtering on the epoch necessary to accurately estimate the “true” average EMG amplitude calculated from a 28 s EMG trace (EMG_ref) during simulated constant isometric conditions. Monte Carlo iterations of a motor-unit model simulating 28 s of surface EMG produced 245 simulations under two conditions: with and without amplitude cancellation. For each simulation, we calculated the epoch necessary to generate average full-wave rectified EMG amplitudes that settled within 5% of EMGref. For the no-cancellation EMG, the necessary epochs were short (e.g., <100 ms). For the more realistic interference EMG (i.e., cancellation condition), epochs shortened dramatically after using high-pass filter cutoffs above 250 Hz, producing epochs short enough to be practical (i.e., <500 ms). We conclude that the need to use long epochs to accurately estimate EMG amplitude is likely the result of unavoidable amplitude cancellation, which helps to clarify why high-pass filtering (>250 Hz) improves EMG estimates.     

Cross-talk from adjacent muscle has a negligible effect on surface electromyographic activity of vastus intermedius muscle during isometric contraction

The purposes of this study were to attempt to record surface electromyography (EMG) from the superficial region of vastus intermedius (VI) and to investigate the influence of adjacent muscle activity on surface EMG of VI. First, serial axial magnetic resonance imaging of the thigh was performed for 45 healthy young men to determine morphological characteristics of the VI. Second, surface EMG activity of the VI and other quadriceps femoris (QF) muscle group components were recorded in maximum voluntary contraction during isometric knee extension from 11 healthy young men. To test cross-talk of EMG signals between VI and the nearest adjacent muscle, vastus lateralis (VL), we applied cooling for 20-min on VL to selectively alter activity. Cooling the skin above a muscle is known to decrease median frequency (MF) of EMG signal of the muscle. All subjects displayed a superficial region in VI sufficiently large (14 cm²) to record surface EMG. Surface EMG of VI could be detected in the same scale as other QF muscle group components. Cooling induced a significant MF decrease only in VL (from 92.5 to 44.2 Hz, p < 0.001), but no significant change was observed in VI (from 63.8 to 61.7 Hz). From this result, we concluded the muscle activity of VL is negligible on surface EMG detected from VI during isometric contraction.     

Bilateral impairments of shoulder abduction in chronic hemiparesis: Electromyographic patterns and isokinetic muscle performance

ObjectiveTo analyze electromyographic (EMG) patterns and isokinetic muscle performance of shoulder abduction movement in individuals who sustained a cerebrovascular accident (CVA).DesignTwenty-two individuals who sustained a CVA and 22 healthy subjects volunteered for EMG activity and isokinetic shoulder abduction assessments. EMG onset time, root mean square (RMS) for upper trapezius and deltoid muscles, as well as the isokinetic variables of peak torque, total work, average power and acceleration time were compared between limbs and groups.ResultsThe paretic side showed a different onset activation pattern in shoulder abduction, along with a lower RMS for both muscles (21.8 ± 13.4% of the maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) for the deltoid and 25.9 ± 15.3% MVIC for the upper trapezius, about 50% lower than the control group). The non-paretic side showed a delay in both muscles activation and a lower RMS for the deltoid (32.2 ± 13.7% MVIC, about 25% lower than the control group). Both sides of the group of individuals who sustained a CVA presented a significantly lower isokinetic performance compared to the control group (paretic side ～60% lower; non-paretic side ～35% lower).ConclusionsShoulder abduction muscle performance is impaired in both paretic and non-paretic limbs of individuals who sustained a CVA.