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EMG Activity in Gait: The Influence of Motor Disorders

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Abstract

EMG techniques have been widely used in research and clinical settings, revealing underlying mechanisms that are involved in pathology and assisting clinicians to decision-making. Current findings based on EMG, combined with kinematic and kinetic data during gait, describe very specific activation patterns and muscle synergies in people with and without motor disorders, which contribute to the understanding of the disease’s causes and to build more accurate and detailed simulation models. Furthermore, the EMG findings during stance and swing phase are discussed and more particularly the co-activation of the agonist and antagonist muscles. This helps to comprehend the contribution of certain muscles/muscle groups when power generation or stability is required and the effect of spasticity and stretch reflex on the movement quality. This chapter also supplies the reader with several examples that reveal, by means of EMG assessments, mechanisms of the neuromuscular system to compensate primary or secondary causes of movement disorders. Finally, the limitations and difficulties in EMG interpretation in pathological cases are discussed.

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Abbreviations

CP:

Cerebral palsy

PD:

Parkinson’s disease

TD:

Typically developed

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  1. School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Dimitrios A. Patikas

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  1. Motion & More, Barcelona, Spain

    Bertram Müller

  2. Klinik für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgi, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sebastian I. Wolf

  3. Institut for Biomechanics und Orthopedic, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Gert-Peter Brueggemann

  4. Houston, Texas, USA

    Zhigang Deng

  5. ACRISP, FedUniversity, Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia

    Andrew McIntosh

  6. Wilmington, Delaware, USA

    Freeman Miller

  7. Research, C-Motion, Inc., Germantown, Maryland, USA

    William Scott Selbie

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Patikas, D.A. (2016). EMG Activity in Gait: The Influence of Motor Disorders. In: Müller, B., et al. Handbook of Human Motion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30808-1_33-1

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