Surface electromyography to study muscle coordination

Abstract

Electromyography (EMG) records the electrical activity that is generated as action potentials propagate along the length of muscle fibers. As such surface EMG is the research tool that is used in a vast majority of the works that assess muscle coordination in health and disease. Although surface EMG recordings can provide valuable information regarding the neural activation of a muscle by the nervous system, there are multiple factors that need to be considered to ensure that the interpretation of the data is accurate. In this chapter, we have highlighted crosstalk, signal cancellation, normalization, computation signal, detection of the onset/offset times, and the misinterpretation of EMG to infer torque as six of the most significant factors that need to be considered when recording and then interpreting EMG data. These factors need to be considered before data is collected, to determine if EMG is the right tool and/or which processing methods may best provide insight into the research question.