Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Longitudinal and transverse propagation of surface mechanomyographic waves generated by single motor unit activity

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Multi-channel surface mechanomyographic (MMG) signals generated by individual motor units were analyzed to investigate whether the surface mechanical waves induced by fiber contraction propagate over the skin surface. The MMG signals were recorded from the tibialis anterior muscle of ten healthy subjects with 13 uniaxial accelerometers, located both along and transverse to the fiber direction. Intramuscular electromyographic signals served to identify individual motor units whose action potentials were used to trigger the averaging of the MMG signals. The spike-triggered averaged MMG had similar characteristics in locations along the longitudinal direction; however, its amplitude decreased along the transverse direction. Moreover, the time-to-positive peak increased along the transverse direction, indicating a transverse wave propagation with a velocity of 2.4 ± 1.1 m/s in the linear direction. The results support the hypothesis that the MMG signal mainly originates from muscle fiber displacement underlining a bending mode due to contraction and provide the basis for interpreting the interference MMG in relation to motor unit activity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Akataki K, Mita K, Itoh Y (1999) Relationship between mechanomyogram and force during voluntary contractions reinvestigated using spectral decomposition. Eur J Appl Physiol 80:173–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Andreassen S, Arendt-Nielsen L (1987) Muscle fibre conduction velocity in motor units of the human anterior tibial muscle: a new size principle parameter. J Physiol 391:561–571

    Google Scholar 

  3. Barry DT (1987) Acoustic signals from frog skeletal muscle. Biophys J 51:769–773

    Google Scholar 

  4. Barry DT, Cole NM (1988) Fluid mechanics of muscle vibrations. Biophys J 53:899–905

    Google Scholar 

  5. Barry DT, Geiringer SR, Ball RD (1985) Acoustic myography: a noninvasive monitor of motor unit fatigue. Muscle Nerve 8:189–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bichler E, Celichowski J (2001) Mechanomyographic signals generated during unfused tetani of single motor units in the rat medial gastrocnemius muscle. Eur J Appl Physiol 85:513–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cescon C, Farina D, Gobbo M, Merletti R, Orizio C (2004) Effect of accelerometer location on mechanomyogram variables during voluntary, constant-force contractions in three human muscles. Med Biol Eng Comput 42:121–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cescon C, Gazzoni M, Gobbo M, Orizio C, Farina D (2004) Non-invasive assessment of single motor unit mechanomyographic response and twitch force by spike-triggered averaging. Med Biol Eng Comput 42:496–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cescon C, Madeleine P, Graven-Nielsen T, Merletti R, Farina D (2007) Two-dimensional spatial distribution of surface mechanomyographical response to single motor unit activity. J Neurosci Methods 159:19–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cescon C, Nannucci L, Orizio C (2002) A prototype of hybrid probe for surface EMG and MMG joint recordings. In: Proceedings of XIV ISEK Congress, Vienna, Austria, pp 299–300

  11. Cescon C, Sguazzi E, Merletti R, Farina D (2006) Non-invasive characterization of single motor unit electromyographic and mechanomyographic activities in the biceps brachii muscle. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 16:17–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cramer JT, Housh TJ, Weir JP, Ebersole KT, Perry-Rana SR, Bull AJ, Johnson GO (2003) Cross-correlation analyses of mechanomyographic signals from the superficial quadriceps femoris muscles during concentric and eccentric isokinetic muscle actions. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol 43:293–300

    Google Scholar 

  13. Farina D, Arendt-Nielsen L, Merletti R, Graven-Nielsen T (2002) Assessment of single motor unit conduction velocity during sustained contractions of the tibialis anterior muscle with advanced spike triggered averaging. J Neurosci Methods 115:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Frangioni JV, Kwan-Gett TS, Dobrunz LE, McMahon TA (1987) The mechanism of low-frequency sound production in muscle. Biophysic J 51:775–783

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gobbo M, Madeleine P, Cescon C, Orizio C, Farina D (2006) Influence of instanteous discharge rate on motor unit contribution to mechanomyogram. In: Proceedings of XVI ISEK Congress, Torino, Italy

  16. Gordon G, Holbourn AH (1948) The sounds from single motor units in a contracting muscle. J Physiol 107:456–464

    Google Scholar 

  17. Jaskolska A, Brzenczek W, Kisiel-Sajewicz K, Kawczynski A, Marusiak J, Jaskolski A (2004) The effect of skinfold on frequency of human muscle mechanomyogram. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 14:217–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Madeleine P, Cescon C, Farina D (2006) Spatial and force dependency of mechanomyographic signal features. J Neurosci Methods 158:89–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Madeleine PF (2008) Time to task failure in shoulder elevation is associated in amplitude and to spatial heterogeneity of upper trapezius mechanomyographic signals. Eur J Appl Physiol 102:325–333

    Google Scholar 

  20. Madeleine P, Farina D, Merletti R, Arendt-Nielsen L (2002) Upper trapezius muscle mechanomyographic and electromyographic activity in humans during low force fatiguing and non-fatiguing contractions. Eur J Appl Physiol 87:327–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Madeleine P, Tuker K, Arendt-Nielsen L, Farina D (2007) Heterogeneous mechanomyographic absolute activation of paraspinal muscles assessed by a two-dimensional array during short and sustained contractions. J Biomech 40:2663–2671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Masuda T, Sadoyama T (1986) The propagation of single motor unit action potentials detected by a surface electrode array. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 63:590–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Merletti R, Farina D, Gazzoni M (2003) The linear electrode array: a useful tool with many applications. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 13:37–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Merletti R, Farina D, Granata A (1999) Non-invasive assessment of motor unit properties with linear electrode arrays. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol Suppl 50:293–300

    Google Scholar 

  25. Neering IR, Quesenberry LA, Morris VA, Taylor SR (1991) Nonuniform volume changes during muscle contraction. Biophysic J 59:926–933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Orizio C (1993) Muscle sound: bases for the introduction of a mechanomyographic signal in muscle studies. Crit Rev Biomed Eng 21:201–243

    Google Scholar 

  27. Orizio C, Liberati D, Locatelli C, De Grandis D, Veicsteinas A (1996) Surface mechanomyogram reflects muscle fibres twitches summation. J Biomech 29:475–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ouamer M, Boiteux M, Petitjean M, Travens L, Sales A (1999) Acoustic myography during voluntary isometric contraction reveals non-propagative lateral vibration. J Biomech 32:1279–1285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Sogaard K, Orizio C, Sjogaard G (2006) Surface mechanomyogram amplitude is not attenuated by intramuscular pressure. Eur J Appl Physiol 96:178–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Tarata MT (2003) Mechanomyography versus electromyography, in monitoring the muscular fatigue. BioMedical Eng OnLine 2:3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wollaston WH (1810) On the duration of muscle action. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 1–5

  32. Yoshitake Y, Shinohara M, Ue H, Moritani T (2002) Characteristics of surface mechanomyogram are dependent on development of fusion of motor units in humans. J Appl Physiol 93:1744–1752

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7 D-3, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark

    Corrado Cescon, Pascal Madeleine & Dario Farina

  2. Department of Electronics, Laboratory for Engineering of the Neuromuscular System, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Corrado Cescon

Authors
  1. Corrado Cescon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pascal Madeleine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dario Farina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dario Farina.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cescon, C., Madeleine, P. & Farina, D. Longitudinal and transverse propagation of surface mechanomyographic waves generated by single motor unit activity. Med Biol Eng Comput 46, 871–877 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-008-0357-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-008-0357-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation