Influence of fatigue on hand muscle coordination and EMG-EMG coherence during three-digit grasping.

Fingertip force control requires fine coordination of multiple hand muscles within and across the digits. While the modulation of neural drive to hand muscles as a function of force has been extensively studied, much less is known about the effects of fatigue on the coordination of simultaneously active hand muscles. We asked eight subjects to perform a fatiguing contraction by gripping a manipulandum with thumb, index, and middle fingers while matching an isometric target force (40% maximal voluntary force) for as long as possible. The coordination of 12 hand muscles was quantified as electromyographic (EMG) muscle activation pattern (MAP) vector and EMG-EMG coherence. We hypothesized that muscle fatigue would cause uniform changes in EMG amplitude across all muscles and an increase in EMG-EMG coherence in the higher frequency bands but with an invariant heterogeneous distribution across muscles. Muscle fatigue caused a 12.5% drop in the maximum voluntary contraction force (P < 0.05) at task failure and an increase in the SD of force (P < 0.01). Although EMG amplitude of all muscles increased during the fatiguing contraction (P < 0.001), the MAP vector orientation did not change, indicating that a similar muscle coordination pattern was used throughout the fatiguing contraction. Last, EMG-EMG coherence (0-35 Hz) was significantly greater at the end than at the beginning of the fatiguing contraction (P < 0.01) but was heterogeneously distributed across hand muscles. These findings suggest that similar mechanisms are involved for modulating and sustaining digit forces in nonfatiguing and fatiguing contractions, respectively.

Coordination of intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscle activity as a function of wrist joint angle during two-digit grasping.

Fingertip forces result from the activation of muscles that cross the wrist and muscles whose origins and insertions reside within the hand (extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles, respectively). Thus, tasks that involve changes in wrist angle affect the moment arm and length, hence the force-producing capabilities, of extrinsic muscles only. If a grasping task requires the exertion of constant fingertip forces, the Central Nervous System (CNS) may respond to changes in wrist angle by modulating the neural drive to extrinsic or intrinsic muscles only or by co-activating both sets of muscles. To distinguish between these scenarios, we recorded electromyographic (EMG) activity of intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the thumb and index finger as a function of wrist angle during a two-digit object hold task. We hypothesized that changes in wrist angle would elicit EMG amplitude modulation of the extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles. In one experimental condition we asked subjects to exert the same digit forces at each wrist angle, whereas in a second condition subjects could choose digit forces for holding the object. EMG activity was significantly modulated in both extrinsic and intrinsic muscles as a function of wrist angle (both p<0.05) but only for the constant force condition. Furthermore, EMG modulation resulted from uniform scaling of EMG amplitude across all muscles. We conclude that the CNS controlled both extrinsic and intrinsic muscles as a muscle synergy. These findings are discussed within the theoretical frameworks of synergies and common neural input across motor nuclei of hand muscles.

Receptive field characteristics under electrotactile stimulation of the fingertip.

Skin on human fingertips has high concentrations of mechanoreceptors, which are used to provide fine resolution tactile representations of our environment. Here, we explore the ability to discriminate electrotactile stimulation at four sites on the fingertip. Electrical stimulation was delivered to arrays of electrodes centered on the index fingertip (volar aspect). Accuracy of discrimination was tested by examining electrode size, interelectrode spacing, and stimulation frequency as primary factors. Electrical stimulation was delivered at 2 mA with the pulse width modulated to be at (or above) perceptual threshold at 25 and 75 Hz and an average pulse width of 1.03 ms (+/- 0.70 ms standard deviation). Discrimination of the stimulated locations under this stimulation paradigm was significantly above chance level in all cases. Subjects' ability to discriminate stimulus location was not significantly influenced by electrode size or stimulation frequency when considered as separate factors. However, increased electrode spacing significantly increased subjects' ability to discriminate the location of the stimulated electrode. Further analysis revealed that errors were only significantly reduced along the medial-lateral direction with increasing interelectrode spacing. These results suggest that the electrotactile stimulus localization on the fingertip has some directional dependency, in addition to its dependency on interelectrode spacing. The neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are discussed in relation to electrical stimulus transduction characteristics of tactile mechanoreceptors.