Motor unit synchronization during fatigue: A novel quantification method

Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 242-251

  Gronlund C ^a,b,c   Holtermann, A ^d   Roeleveld, K ^d   Karlsson, J S ^a,b  

^a UMEÅ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Sweden)

^b UMEÅ UNIVERSITY   (Sweden)

^c LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Sweden)

^d NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY   (Norway)

Author keywords

Conduction velocity; Electromyography; Fatigue; Motor unit; Surface EMG; Synchronization

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HUMAN; MOTOR UNIT POTENTIAL; MUSCLE ACTION POTENTIAL; MUSCLE FATIGUE; MUSCLE FIBER MEMBRANE CONDUCTANCE; NOISE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS;

ALGORITHMS; COMPUTER SIMULATION; ELECTROMYOGRAPHY; HUMANS; MODELS, NEUROLOGICAL; MOTOR NEURONS; MUSCLE CONTRACTION; MUSCLE FATIGUE; MUSCLE, SKELETAL; NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION; RECRUITMENT, NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY;

EID: 59149089947     PISSN: 10506411     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2007.07.012     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Adam A., and De Luca C.J. Firing rates of motor units in human vastus lateralis muscle during fatiguing isometric contractions. J Appl Physiol 99 (2005) 268-280
2. Basmajian J.V., and De Luca C.J. Muscles alive: their functions revealed by electromyography. 5th ed. (1985), Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore
3. Bremner F.D., Baker J.R., and Stephens J.A. Variation in the degree of synchronization exhibited by motor units lying in different finger muscles in man. J Physiol 432 (1991) 381-399
4. Datta A.K., Farmer S.F., and Stephens J.A. Central nervous pathways underlying synchronization of human motor unit firing studied during voluntary contractions. J Physiol 432 (1991) 401-425
5. De Luca C.J. Physiology and mathematics of myoelectric signals. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 26 (1979) 313-325
6. De Luca C.J. Myoelectrical manifestations of localized muscular fatigue in humans. Crit Rev Biomed Eng 11 (1984) 251-279
7. De Luca C.J., LeFever R.S., McCue M.P., and Xenakis A.P. Behaviour of human motor units in different muscles during linearly varying contractions. J Physiol 329 (1982) 113-128
8. De Luca C.J., Roy A.M., and Erim Z. Synchronization of motor-unit firings in several human muscles. J Neurophysiol 70 (1993) 2010-2023
9. Dolan P., Mannion A.F., and Adams M.A. Fatigue of the erector spinae muscles. A quantitative assessment using "frequency banding" of the surface electromyography signal. Spine 20 (1995) 149-159
10. Dumitru D., and King J.C. Motor unit action potential duration and muscle length. Muscle Nerve 22 (1999) 1188-1195
11. Erim Z., De Luca C.J., Mineo K., and Aoki T. Rank-ordered regulation of motor units. Muscle Nerve 19 (1996) 563-573
12. Farina D., and Merletti R. A novel approach for precise simulation of the EMG signal detected by surface electrodes. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 48 (2001) 637-646
13. Farina D., Fattorini L., Felici F., and Filligoi G.C. Nonlinear surface EMG analysis to detect changes of motor unit conduction velocity and synchronization. J Appl Physiol 93 (2002) 1753-1763
14. Farmer S.F., Halliday D.M., Conway B.A., Stephens J.A., and Rosenberg J.R. A review of recent applications of cross-correlation methodologies to human motor unit recording. J Neurosci Meth 74 (1997) 175-187
15. Fuglevand A.J., Winter D.A., and Patla A.E. Models of recruitment and rate coding organization in motor-unit pools. J Neurophysiol 70 (1993) 2470-2488
16. Gabriel D.A., Lester S.M., Lenhardt S.A., and Cambridge D.J. Analysis of surface EMG spike shape across different levels of isometric force. J Neurosci Meth 159 (2007) 146-152
17. Garland S.J., Enoka R.M., Serrano L.P., and Robinson G.A. Behavior of motor units in human biceps brachii during a submaximal fatiguing contraction. J Appl Physiol 76 (1994) 2411-2419
18. Grönlund C., Östlund N., Roeleveld K., and Karlsson J.S. Simultaneous estimation of muscle fibre conduction velocity and muscle fibre orientation using 2D multichannel surface electromyogram. Med Biol Eng Comput 43 (2005) 63-70
19. Halliday D.M., Conway B.A., Farmer S.F., and Rosenberg J.R. Load-independent contributions from motor-unit synchronization to human physiological tremor. J Neurophysiol 82 (1999) 664-675
20. Henneman E., Somjen G., and Carpenter D.O. Excitability and inhibitability of motoneurons of different sizes. J Neurophysiol 28 (1965) 599-620
21. Keenan K.G., Farina D., Maluf K.S., Merletti R., and Enoka R.M. Influence of amplitude cancellation on the simulated surface electromyogram. J Appl Physiol 98 (2005) 120-131
22. Kirkwood P.A., and Sears T.A. Cross-correlation analyses of motoneurone inputs in a co-ordinated motor act. Neuroneal cooperativity (1991), Springer, Berlin
23. Kirkwood P.A., Sears T.A., Tuck D.L., and Westgaard R.H. Variations in the time course of the synchronization of intercostal motoneurones in the cat. J Physiol 327 (1982) 105-135
24. Kleine B.U., Stegeman D.F., Mund D., and Anders C. Influence of motoneuron firing synchronization on SEMG characteristics in dependence of electrode position. J Appl Physiol 91 (2001) 1588-1599
25. Lindström L., and Magnusson P. Interpretation of myoelectric power spectra: a model and its applications. Proc IEEE 65 (1977) 653-662
26. Maitrot A., Lucas M.F., Doncarli C., and Farina D. Signal-dependent wavelets for electromyogram classification. Med Biol Eng Comput 43 (2005) 487-492
27. Milner-Brown H.S., Stein R.B., and Yemm R. Changes in firing rate of human motor units during linearly changing voluntary contractions. J Physiol 230 (1973) 371-390
28. Milner-Brown H.S., Stein R.B., and Yemm R. The contractile properties of human motor units during voluntary isometric contractions. J Physiol 228 (1973) 285-306
29. Mori S. Discharge patterns of soleus motor units with associated changes in force exerted by foot during quiet stance in man. J Neurophysiol 36 (1973) 458-471
30. Nordstrom M.A., Fuglevand A.J., and Enoka R.M. Estimating the strength of common input to human motoneurons from the cross-correlogram. J Physiol 453 (1992) 547-574
31. Östlund N., Yu J., and Karlsson J.S. Adaptive spatio-temporal filtering of multichannel surface EMG signals. Med Biol Eng Comput 44 (2006) 209-215
32. Potvin J.R., and Brown S.H.M. Less is more: high pass filtering, to remove up to 99% of the surface EMG signal power, improves EMG-based biceps brachii muscle force estimates. J Electromyogr Kines 14 (2004) 389-399
33. Rosenfalck P. Intra- and extracellular potential fields of active nerve and muscle fibres. A physico-mathematical analysis of different models. Thromb Diath Haemost 321 (1969) 1-168
34. Sears T.A., and Stagg D. Short-term synchronization of intercostal motoneurone activity. J Physiol 263 (1976) 357-381
35. Semmler J.G. Motor unit synchronization and neuromuscular performance. Exercise Sport Sci Rev 30 (2002) 8-14
36. Semmler J.G., and Nordstrom M.A. Influence of handedness on motor unit discharge properties and force tremor. Exp Brain Res 104 (1995) 115-125
37. Semmler J.G., and Nordstrom M.A. Motor unit discharge and force tremor in skill- and strength-trained individuals. Exp Brain Res 119 (1998) 27-38
38. Semmler J.G., and Nordstrom M.A. A comparison of cross-correlation and surface EMG techniques used to quantify motor unit synchronization in humans. J Neurosci Meth 90 (1999) 47-55
39. Westgaard R.H., and De Luca C.J. Motor control of low-threshold motor units in the human trapezius muscle. J Neurophysiol 85 (2001) 1777-1781
40. Yao W., Fuglevand A.J., and Enoka R.M. Motor-unit synchronization increases EMG amplitude and decreases force steadiness of simulated contractions. J Neurophysiol 83 (2000) 441-452
41. Yue G.H., Fuglevand A.J., Nordstrom M.A., and Enoka R.M. Limitations of the surface electromyography technique for estimating motor unit synchronization. Biol Cybern 73 (1995) 223-233