EMG Flashcards
Define what is EMG
Electromyography
Neurophysiological technique to record and assess electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles
What does a motor unit comprise of?
Made up of a motor neuron and the skeletal muscle fibers, innervated by that motor neuron’s axonal terminals.
All muscle fibres in a motor unit are of the same fibre type
EMG Signal Composition: What are MUAPT and how is it summed to become a EMG Signal?
When a motor unit discharges, the electrical potentials from all the muscle fibers of the motor unit sum together to produce a compound potential called the motor-unit action potential (MUAP)
The EMG signal is the summation of the discharges of all the motor units within the pick-up range of the electrode.
What are the two types of EMG techniques and what are the pros and cons of each type?
Surface EMG: Non invasive, records from large area
Intramuscular: Records from small area, records from deep muscles
CONS
Surface: Crosstalk b/w muscle groups, unable to record deep muscles, Noise from mechanical artifacts, Contact pressure
Intramuscular: Invasive, uncomfortable over contractions, Position might be displaced over contraction
What are the applications for each type of EMG technique?
Surface: EMGxForce relationship, Kinesiology (sport settings), Neurophysiology of superficial muscles
Intramuscular: Analyzing individual MUAPTs, Clinical settings
Procedures of EMG Data Collection: 1 - Skin Preperation
Shaving excess hair if needed
Cleaning skin with baby wipes
Wiping with alcohol pad to dissolve oil on skin
Apply hypoallergenic tape to remove deda skin
Pad abrasion of the skin: necessary as pads reduce motion artifact
Procedures of EMG Data Collection: 2 - Electrode Placement.
What are the types of electrodes placed?
What are the issues to consider?
Active electrodes and Ground/reference electrode
Active: Avoid innervation zone (parallel and pennate muscles have different IZ) > IZ = unstable and jagged signal with sharp peaks
Ground: Place it on bonny landmark
Refer to an EMG anatomy atlas
Procedures of EMG Data Collection: 2 - Electrode Placement.
What topics would a good EMG anatomy atlas cover?
Type of placement Muscle actions Muscle insertions Innervations Locations Behavioral test Typical signals Potential artifacts Benchmark data
Procedures of EMG Data Collection: 3 - Collecting Data
What are the issues to consider?
Wait at least 5 minutes so that bioimpedance decreases
Consider potential typical artifacts: noise by instruments (electrode displacement), environmental noise (other electrical equipment sinusoidal signal at 50-60hz), cross talk between muscle groups, physiological signals (ECG).
What are the EMG signal processing procedural steps?
- Bandpass low + high 125-250hz
- Full wave rectification (math function - absolute)
- Smoothing & Linear Envelope 8-10samples smoothing, Low pass 12hz
- Normalization (signal amplitude) - Integrate > Average over sample and RMS
Signal Processing/Filtering: Why is band-pass needed?
Minimize noise is the raw signal, done between 0-25hz and 300-500hz
Signal Processing/Filtering: Why is full wave rectification needed?
It converts all signals into positive values / taking absolute value of signal
This enables standard amplitude parameters (mean, peak value, area under curve) to be applied to curve
Signal Processing/Filtering: Why is smoothing and linear envelope through low pass filtering needed?
It smoothes the EMG signal.
Helps to outline mean trend of signal development (as raw EMG burst cannot be reproduced second time, too random)
Signal Processing/Filtering: Normalization, why is it needed? How is it done?
EMG amplitude data greatly influenced by detection conditions, normalization eliminates detection condition influence > rescale to % of selected reference value / standardized for all subjects within study
Reference Values
- Maximal Voluntary isometric contraction
- Given %MVIC
- Mean value of 2-3 EMG signals
- Maximum EMG signals
Recall what are the two types of Parameters in EMG?
Time domain and frequency/spectral domain