EMG recurrence quantifications in dynamic exercise

Biological Cybernetics volume 90, pages 337–348 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract.

This study was designed to evaluate the suitability of nonlinear recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) in assessing electromyograph (EMG) signals during dynamic exercise. RQA has been proven to be effective in analyzing nonstationary signals. The subject group consisted of 19 male patients diagnosed with low back pain. EMG signals were recorded from left and right paraspinal muscles during isoinertial exercise both before and after 12 weeks of regimented physical therapy. Autorecurrence analysis was performed between the left and right EMG signals individually, and cross-recurrence analysis was performed on the left-right EMG pairs. Spectral analysis of the EMG signals was employed as an independent, objective measure of fatigue. Increase in the RQA variable % determinism during the 90-s dynamic tests was found to be a good marker for fatigue. Before physical therapy, this nonlinear marker revealed simultaneous increases in motor unit recruitment within each pool and between left and right pools. After physical therapy, the motor unit recruitment was less within and between pools, indicative of increased fatigue resistance. Finally, fatigue resistance (less increase in % determinism) correlated well with subjective scores of pain relief. Taken together, these latter results indicate that recurrence analysis may be useful in charting the efficacy of a specific exercise therapy program in reducing low back pain by elevating the fatigue threshold.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  1. 1.

    Amjad AM, Halliday DM, Rosenberg JR, Conway BA (1997) An extended difference of coherence test for comparing and combining several independent coherence estimates: theory and application to the study of motor units and physiological tremor. J Neurosci Meth 25(73):69–79

    Google Scholar 

  2. 2.

    Bigland-Ritchie B, Woods J (1984) Changes in muscle contractile properties and neural control during human muscular fatigue. Muscle Nerve 7:691–699

    Google Scholar 

  3. 3.

    Bonato P, Boissy P, Della Croce U, Roy SH (2002) Changes in the surface EMG signal and the biomechanics of motion during a repetitive lifting task. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 10:38–47

    Google Scholar 

  4. 4.

    Carr LJ, Harrison LM, Stephens JA (1994) Evidence for bilateral innervation of certain homologous motoneurone pools in man. J Physiol 475:217–227

    Google Scholar 

  5. 5.

    Eckmann J-P, Kamphorst SO, Ruelle D (1987) Recurrence plots of dynamical systems. Europhys Lett 4:973–977

    Google Scholar 

  6. 6.

    Farina D, Fattorini L, Felici F, Filligoi G (2002) Nonlinear surface EMG analysis to detect changes of motor unit conduction velocity and synchronization. J Appl Physiol 93:1753–1763

    Google Scholar 

  7. 7.

    Farmer SF, Sheean GL, Mayston MJ, Rothwell JC, Marsden CD, Conway BA, Halliday DM, Rosenberg JR, Stephens JA (1998) Abnormal motor unit synchronization of antagonist muscles underlies pathological co-contraction in upper limb dystonia. Brain 121:801–814

    Google Scholar 

  8. 8.

    Faure P, Korn H (1997) A nonrandom dynamic component in the synaptic noise of a central neuron. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:6506–6511

    Google Scholar 

  9. 9.

    Felici F, Rosponi A, Sbriccoli P, Filligoi GC, Fattorini L, Marchetti M (2001a) Linear and non-linear analysis of surface electromyograms in weightlifters. Eur J Appl Physiol 84:337–342

    Google Scholar 

  10. 10.

    Felici F, Rosponi A, Sbriccoli P, Scarcia M, Bazzucchi I, Iannattone M (2001b) Effect of human exposure to altitude on muscle endurance during isometric contractions. Eur J Appl Physiol 85:507–512

    Google Scholar 

  11. 11.

    Filligoi G, Felici F (1999) Detection of hidden rhythms in surface EMG signals with a non-linear time-series tool. Med Eng Phys 21:439–448

    Google Scholar 

  12. 12.

    Gandevia SC (2001) Spinal and supraspinal factors in human muscle fatigue. Physiol Rev 81:1725–1789

    Google Scholar 

  13. 13.

    Giuliani A, Piccirillo G, Marigliano V, Colosimo A (1998) A nonlinear explanation of aging-induced changes in heartbeat dynamics. Am J Physiol 75:H1455–H1461

    Google Scholar 

  14. 14.

    Hägg GM (1992) Interpretation of EMG spectral alterations and alteration indexes at sustained contraction. J Appl Physiol 73:1211–1217

    Google Scholar 

  15. 15.

    Hakkinen K, Pakarinen A, Kraemer WJ, Hakkinen A, Valkeinen H, Alen M (2001) Selective muscle hypertrophy, changes in EMG and force, and serum hormones during strength training in older women. J Appl Physiol 91:569–580

    Google Scholar 

  16. 16.

    Ikegawa S, Shinohara M, Fukunaga T, Zbilut JP, Webber CL Jr (2000) Nonlinear time-course of lumbar muscle fatigue using recurrence quantifications. Biol Cybern 82:373–382

    Google Scholar 

  17. 17.

    Jensen BR, Pilegaard M, Sjogaard G (2000) Motor unit recruitment and rate coding in response to fatiguing shoulder abductions and subsequent recovery. European J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 83:190–199

    Google Scholar 

  18. 18.

    Kankaanpää M, Taimela S, Laaksonen D, Hanninen O, Airaksinen O (1998) Back and hip extensor fatigability in chronic low back pain patients and controls. Arch Physical Med Rehabil 79:412–417

    Google Scholar 

  19. 19.

    Kankaanpää M (1999) Lumbar muscle endurance in the assessment of physical performance capacity of low back pain patients. Ph.D. dissertation, Kuopio University, Finland

  20. 20.

    Kaser L, Mannion AF, Rhyner A, Weber E, Dvorak J, Muntener M (2001) Active therapy for chronic low back pain: II. Effects on paraspinal muscle cross-sectional area, fiber types size, and distribution. Spine 26:909–919

    Google Scholar 

  21. 21.

    Kent-Braun JA (1999) Central and peripheral contributions to muscle fatigue in humans during sustained maximal effort. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 80:57–63

    Google Scholar 

  22. 22.

    Kranz H, Williams AM, Cassell J, Caddy DJ, Silberstein RB (1983) Factors determining the frequency content of the electromyogram. J Appl Physiol 55:392–399

    Google Scholar 

  23. 23.

    Krogh-Lund C (1993) Myo-electric fatigue and force failure from submaximal static elbow flexion sustained to exhaustion. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 67:389–401

    Google Scholar 

  24. 24.

    Löscher WN, Cresswell AG, Thorstensson A (1996) Excitatory drive to the alpha-motoneuron pool during a fatiguing submaximal contraction in man. J Physiol 491:271–280

    Google Scholar 

  25. 25.

    Mannion AF, Dolan P (1994) Electromyographic median frequency changes during isometric contraction of back extensors to fatigue. Spine 19:1223–1229

    Google Scholar 

  26. 26.

    Marwan N, Thiel M, Nowaczyk NR (2002) Cross recurrence plot based synchronization of time series. Nonlinear Proc Geophys 9:325–331

    Google Scholar 

  27. 27.

    Ohnhaus EE, Adler R (1975) Methodological problems in the measurement of pain: a comparison between the verbal rating scale and the visual analogue scale. Pain 1:379–384

    Google Scholar 

  28. 28.

    Richard-Bell GC, Tork I, Bystrzycka EK (1986) Distribution of corticospinal motor fibres within the cervical spinal cord with special reference to the phrenic nucleus: a WGA-HRP anterograde transport study in the cat. Brain Res 379:75–83

    Google Scholar 

  29. 29.

    Semmler JG, Nordstrom MA (1998) Motor unit discharge and force tremor in skill- and strength-trained individuals. Exp Brain Res 119:27–38

    Google Scholar 

  30. 30.

    Serrano AL, Quiroz-Rothe E, Rivero JL (2000) Early and long-term changes of equine skeletal muscle in response to endurance training and detraining. Pflügers Archiv Eur J Physiol 441:263–274

    Google Scholar 

  31. 31.

    Shockley K, Butwill M, Zbilut JP, Webber CL Jr (2002) Cross recurrence quantification of coupled oscillators. Phys Lett A 305:59–69

    Google Scholar 

  32. 32.

    Sparto PJ, Parnianpour M, Barria EA, Jagadeesh JM (1999) Wavelet analysis of electromyography for back muscle fatigue detection during isokinetic constant-touque exertions. Spine 24:1791–1798

    Google Scholar 

  33. 33.

    Volkmann J, Joliot M, Mogilner A, Ioannides AA, Lado F, Fazzini E, Ribary U, Llinas R (1996) Central motor loop oscillations in parkinsonian resting tremor revealed by magnetoencephalography. Neurology 46:1359–1370

    Google Scholar 

  34. 34.

    Webber CL Jr (1986) A C-language program for the computation of power spectra on a laboratory microcomputer. Comput Methods Prog Biomed 22:285–291

    Google Scholar 

  35. 35.

    Webber CL Jr (2004) Introduction to recurrence quantification analysis. RQA 8.1 README.TXT: http://homepages. luc.edu/∼cwebber/

  36. 36.

    Webber CL Jr, Zbilut JP (1994) Dynamical assessment of physiological systems and states using recurrence plot strategies. J Appl Physiol 76:965–973

    Google Scholar 

  37. 37.

    Webber CL Jr, Zbilut JP (1998) Recurrent structuring of dynamical and spatial systems. In: Colosimo A (ed) Complexity in the living: a modelistic approach. In: Proceedings of the international meeting, University of Rome ‘‘La Sapienza,’’ February 1997, pp~101–133

  38. 38.

    Webber CL Jr, Schmidt M, Walsh J (1995) Influence of isometric loading on biceps EMG dynamics as assessed by linear and nonlinear tools. J Appl Physiol 78:814–822

    Google Scholar 

  39. 39.

    Westgaard RH, De Luca CJ (1999) Motor unit substitution in long-duration contractions of the human trapezius muscle. J Neurophysiol 82:501–504

    Google Scholar 

  40. 40.

    Zbilut JP, Giuliani A, Webber CL Jr (1998) Detecting deterministic signals in exceptionally noisy environments using cross-recurrence quantification. Phys Lett A 246:122–128

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160, South First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153-3304, USA

    Yiwei Liu & Charles L. Webber Jr.

  2. Department of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital and Department of Physiology, Kuopio University, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Markku Kankaanpää

  3. Department of Molecular Biophysics and Physiology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, IL 60612-3839, USA

    Joseph P. Zbilut

Authors
  1. Yiwei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Markku Kankaanpää
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Joseph P. Zbilut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Charles L. Webber Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles L. Webber Jr..

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, Y., Kankaanpää, M., Zbilut, J. et al. EMG recurrence quantifications in dynamic exercise. Biol. Cybern. 90, 337–348 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-004-0474-6

Download citation

Keywords

  • Fatigue
  • Physical Therapy
  • Fatigue Resistance
  • Exercise Therapy
  • Paraspinal Muscle