A Simulation Study of Motor Unit Electrical and Mechanical Relations for the First Dorsal Interosseous Muscle in Man

Ping Zhou*, W. Z. Rymer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Two different relations between motor unit electrical and mechanical properties were used to simulate isometric force and surface EMG signals of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle in man: 1) motor unit action potential (MUAP) amplitude was linearly proportional to the square root of twitch force; 2) MUAP amplitude was linearly proportional to twitch force. The EMG amplitude - force relations that emerged from simulations indicated that the experimentally observed linear EMG amplitude - force relation was most likely due to the linear electrical and mechanical relation at motor unit level. When MUAP amplitude was proportional to the square root of twitch force, the amplitude of the simulated surface EMG increased slower than force, which was unlike that observed experimentally. The simulation results also suggested that estimating the number of MUAP's in the surface EMG may be a more physiologically meaningful surface EMG processing approach than the prevailing surface EMG amplitude measurements.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1511-1514
Number of pages4
JournalAnnual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology - Proceedings
Volume2
StatePublished - 2003
EventA New Beginning for Human Health: Proceddings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society - Cancun, Mexico
Duration: Sep 17 2003Sep 21 2003

Keywords

  • EMG-force relation
  • FDI
  • MUAP
  • Twitch

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Signal Processing
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Health Informatics

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