Analysis of EMG Interference Patterns

EMG signals from forceful contractions are known as interference patterns (IPs) because of their complexity. They are generally too complex for decomposition, and instead have been characterized by statistical measures, such as the number of times the signal turns (changes direction) per second. Such measures, however, have not gained wide acceptance, in part because their relationship to the physiological properties of the underlying MUAPs is not clear. We have developed a new method for analyzing IPs that yields estimates of the motor-unit recruitment and firing rate.

References

McGill KC, Lau K, Dorfman LJ. A comparison of turns analysis and motor-unit analysis in electromyography. Electroenceph Clin Neurophysiol, 81: 8-17, 1991. Abstract

McGill KC, Zardoshti Kermani M, Lateva ZC. Estimation of recruitment and firing rate in EMG signals. Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc Conf, 1997. Abstract

McGill KC, Lateva ZC, Zardoshti Kermani M. Estimation of recruitment by counting the number of active motor units seen by an intramuscular electrode. Proc 12th Intl Soc Electromyogr Kinesiol (ISEK) Congr, 1998. Abstract