Study on Neural Co-activation during Human Upper Limb Muscle Fatigue Based on Surface Electromyography / 中国运动医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objectives To observe the co-activation phenomenon during exercise fatigue induced by the proximal muscles on the upper limbs.Methods Sixteen undergraduates not majoring in sports participated in this study,and their left arms were chosen as the observed arms and right arms were selected as the weighted arms.The weighted arm was alternatively in the state of relaxation without any load and fatigue after bending and extending elbow joints to uphold a 5 kg dumbbell.However,the observed arm kept weighing a 4 kg dumbbell with 90 degrees elbow flexion until the muscles were exhausted.The surface electromyography of biceps brachii and triceps brachii of the observed arms was measured using the ME6000.And the integrated surface electromyography (IEMG),root of mean square (RMS),mean power frequency (MPF)and median frequency (MF)were further analyzed.Results The IEMG and RMS of biceps brachii and triceps brachii of the observed arms increased gradually after the exercise began (P＜0.05)regardless of in the relaxed state or in the in the state of weighing a 5 kg dumbbell for the weighted arm,but in the state of weighting a 5 kg dumbbell the IEMG and RMS increased more significantly (P＜0.01),Meanwhile the electrical activities of the triceps brachii as an antagonistic muscle were intensively inhibited.The changes of MPF and MF of biceps brachii in the observed arms were more significant in the state of exercise fatigue than in the relaxed state (P＜0.01),but without such an impact on the triceps brachii.Conclusions The fatigue in one arm can trigger contingent changes in sEMG time domain and frequency domain indexes of its contralateral parallel muscles,suggesting that sEMG changes of upper limb proximal muscles have the co-activation effect.