Mechanical muscle fibre conduction velocity of the biceps as measured by a new seismic technique

Abstract

A recently-developed technique, called seismic myography (SMG) has the characteristic of recording fast micro-mechanical response times. These times can be determined with sub-millisecond accuracy. The response times can be compared to response times of EMG recordings. The 'muscular electro-seismic response' (MESR) latencies, due to direct electrical stimulation of the biceps muscle, are used;for explorative measurements of the mechanical conduction velocity of the muscle fibres. The measurements are performed by means of a general-purpose physiological multimeter which is equipped with the micro-seismic function. Measurements are performed on two healthy subjects, aged 22 years. The MESR-latencies are measured along a medial and a lateral trajectory on their biceps muscles. The MESR-latencies at stimulus-cathodal to seismic transducer distances of 2.0-3.5 cm, are in the range of 2.0-3.8 ms, while at distances in the range of 7.5-8.9 cm the MESR-latencies varied between 3.4 and 4.7 ms. The calculated mechanical muscle fibre conduction velocities (MMFCV) are in the range between 36 and 89 m/s. There is a reproducibility error of maximum 20%. The MMFCV's of the lateral and medial trajectory do not differ within the accuracy of the present method. However, the MMFCV's are considerably higher than the electrical muscle fibre conduction velocities of MUAPS ((E)MFCV). Some aspects of the MMFCV and possible consequences to surface EMG recordings are discussed. It is concluded that this seismic method for measuring MMFCV is a new accessible and simple to handle tool for the description of muscle function, and offers an interesting new contribution in experimental muscular research.