A simple test of muscle coactivation estimation using electromyography

In numerous motor tasks, muscles around a joint act coactively to generate opposite torques. A variety of indexes based on electromyography signals have been presented in the literature to quantify muscle coactivation. However, it is not known how to estimate it reliably using such indexes. The goal of this study was to test the reliability of the estimation of muscle coactivation using electromyography. Isometric coactivation was obtained at various muscle activation levels. For this task, any coactivation measurement/index should present the maximal score (100% of coactivation). Two coactivation indexes were applied. In the first, the antagonistic muscle activity (the lower electromyographic signal between two muscles that generate opposite joint torques) is divided by the mean between the agonistic and antagonistic muscle activations. In the second, the ratio between antagonistic and agonistic muscle activation is calculated. Moreover, we computed these indexes considering different electromyographic amplitude normalization procedures. It was found that the first algorithm, with all signals normalized by their respective maximal voluntary coactivation, generates the index closest to the true value (100%), reaching 92 ± 6%. In contrast, the coactivation index value was 82 ± 12% when the second algorithm was applied and the electromyographic signal was not normalized (P < 0.04). The new finding of the present study is that muscle coactivation is more reliably estimated if the EMG signals are normalized by their respective maximal voluntary contraction obtained during maximal coactivation prior to dividing the antagonistic muscle activity by the mean between the agonistic and antagonistic muscle activations.

Effect of Flexion Angle of Knee Joint on Co-contractions of Agonist and Antagonist Muscles / 中国康复理论与实践

@# Objective To test the effect of different flexion angles of knee joint on the myoelectric activity and torque of quadriceps femoris and hamstring muscle when these muscles contracting.MethodsElectromyographic activities and isometric torque measurements were performed on 10 healthy subjects at 30°, 60° and 90° of knee joint flexion.ResultsThe results indicated that the greatest maximal voluntary isometric contracture-torque of quadriceps femoris occurred during knee extension at 60° of knee flexion ( P<0.01). However, no significant relationship of maximal voluntary isometric contracture-electromyography and maximal voluntary isometric contracture-torque of quadriceps femoris were found in 10 subjects. But when knee joint was at 90° flexion, hamstring muscle had a greatest neuro-myoelectric activity.ConclusionThe exercise of maximal voluntary isometric contraction of quadriceps femoris and hamstrings muscles at certain knee joint angle can help to maintain the stability of knee joint.