Electromyographic (EMG) Signal

EMG

Action potentials propagating down muscle fibers give rise to an electrical signal Can be detected by

Electrodes placed on the skin surface over the muscle Intramuscular needles

The resulting myoelectric signal or EMG signal represents the gross electrical activity of the active motor units

EMG

EMG Recording

Muscles electrical activity The superposition of the evoked action potentials of all the active motor units in a muscle

Signal recorded using electrodes in monopolar or bipolar configurations Monopolar configuration

one electrode is placed over the muscle belly and a second reference electrode is placed away from the muscle We record the amplified signal between the two electrodes

Bipolar Recording

Main difference between Intramuscular and Surface EMG Recordings

Both electrodes are placed over the muscle belly close to each other (1-2 cm apart) Again the reference electrode is placed away from the muscle The signals from the two muscle belly electrodes are input into a differential amplifier with respect to the reference electrode and the signal is recorded

Surface recorded EMG action potentials have to pass through the fat and skin

Fat and skin act as low pass filters Intramuscular EMG recordings have a much higher frequency range Surface EMG recording have a much lower frequency range

This affects the frequency ranges and hence

Advantage: differential amplifier with high CMRR can reduce noise common to both muscle belly electrodes

Dominant energy in 50-150 Hz range Maximum approximately 500 Hz Greater than 500 Hz is most likely noise or artifacts

EMG Signal Input-Output Model

EMG Model

Propagating action potentials will give rise to a motor unit pulse

Pulse is detected by surface electrodes

Hence, action potential may be regarded as an impulse Impulse is the input to a linear system whose impulse response is the same shape as that of the motor unit pulse detected by the electrodes

EMG Model Signals

EMG Model Simplification

The inputs to the model are random signals Output, e(t) is described in terms of its statistics, i.e., averages. To simplify the analysis, assume further that

hi(t) for i=1,,n are identical and therefore termed he(t) pi(t) for i=1,,n have identical statistics and are uncorrelated (asynchronous)

Mean of e(t)

Mean Squared Value of e(t)

Power Spectral Density (PSD) of EMG

Mean Squared Value of e(t)

Determining he(t)

Determining he(t)

Compare |He()|2 with () over the range of frequencies where |He()|2 has appreciable power and () is approximately constant

If find ee() experimentally, we can fit a PSD (i.e., Bode plot) to it From this, the corresponding he(t) can be found

This he(t) can be compared with the motor unit pulse that is actually recorded Experimentally, he(t) was found to be a statistical average of the motor unit pulse waveforms he (t ) K t e at 1 at 2

Main EMG Signal Characteristics

Mean Amplitude of Rectified EMG

Mean amplitude of rectified signal

A factor of the RMS value

Rectified amplitude of the EMG is a Gaussian signal

Ratio of RMS for high frequency components to low frequency (RP) Root Mean Square (RMS) of the amplitude Median power frequency (MDPF) of the signal Mean Power Frequency (MPF) of the signal Peak frequency (PF)

Root Mean Square (RMS)

RP

The RMS value is directly proportional to the Number of Active Motor Units and the Average Firing rate of the active motor units

Is most sensitive to changes in conduction velocity of the muscle fiber Not used as

Relationship is nonlinear Dependent on initial value of characteristic frequency chosen to divide the spectrum (low and high)

Median Power Frequency (MDPF)

Mean Power Frequency (MPF)

The frequency at which the power spectrum is half

MDPF versus MPF

Muscle Fatigue

Equally linearly sensitive to conduction velocity MDPF less sensitive (~20%) to signal to noise ratio However, MPF has lower standard deviation (~35%) and therefore has a smaller threshold for detecting significant differences

Result of sustained contraction of the muscles Contraction weaker due to the depletion of energy If fatigued to the extreme state, will remain contracted even without stimulus

Termed physiological contracture

Regardless of spectral estimation method used

ATP required to make actin and myosin molecules separate during relaxation

EMG Fatigue Analysis

Spectral Dependency

A shift of the EMG power spectrum to lower frequencies with fatigue

Changes observed during a sustained, isotonic and isometric contraction due to:

MPF is calculated for each window segment and plotted against time. MPF for a typical deltoid EMG in an unfatigued state is approximately 80-90 Hz

Motor unit recruitment

Unlikely to cause spectral changes as amplitude increase and frequency shift have been observed during 80% MVC; it is believed that there is no further recruitment at this contraction level

Increase in RMS of EMG signal Power spectrum trend and RMS shift is dependent on functional role of the muscle

Spectral Dependency

Power Spectrum in terms of Conductance

Motor unit synchronization (tendency for motor units to discharge at the same time)

Causes both amplitude and frequency changes However, synchronization is more evident at the end of endurance time, whereas frequency shift is more pronounced at the start of the contraction Decreases during a sustained contraction

Change in conduction velocity of muscle fibers

What we can conclude about the spectrum

Why does the conduction velocity decrease?

A decrease in firing rate contributes to a shift to lower frequencies A decrease in conduction velocity causes a shift to lower frequencies as the time-duration of the waveform increases as the conduction velocity decreases during sustained contraction

Changes in intramuscular pH related to biochemical changes in the muscle fiber during a sustained contraction

Not firmly established

This causes a simultaneous increase in lowfrequency components and a decrease in highfrequency components

Fatigue and RMS

EMG Frequencies

Shift in power spectrum is a well established phenomenon RMS results from different studies have conflicting results and interpretations What is generally ignored with this parameter is the functional role of the muscle

Frequency components

Highest energy in 10-150 Hz Components up to 500 Hz

High pass filtering is required to remove lowfrequency motion artifacts Notch filtering at 60 Hz has to be avoided due to energy content of signal at that range

Amplification

Unamplified signals between 0-6 mV peak-topeak Amplification factor can be anywhere between 100 to 10000

Need to maximize the signal to noise ratio