Cervical electromyogram profile differences between patients of neck pain and control.
METHODS
A comparative analysis of electromyogram (EMG) signals of patients of cervical pain and normal controls.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the differences between frequency and time domain parameters of EMG signals of patients of cervical pain and normal controls.


BACKGROUND
No diagnostic technique has emerged as a satisfactory tool for identification of spinal pain.


METHODS
Seventeen male and 17 female chronic neck pain patients without cervical radiculopathy were recruited through neurology EMG clinic. The controls consisted of 30 male and 33 female subjects with no history of neck pain in the past 12 months. All subjects performed flexion, left anterolateral flexion, left lateral flexion, left posterolateral extension, and extension to pain threshold/20% maximum voluntary contraction and pain tolerance/maximum voluntary contraction in random order. The descriptive statistics for body weight normalized strength, normalized peak EMG, time to onset, time to peak, median frequency, mean power frequency, and frequency bands were calculated. These variables were subjected to analysis of variance and logistic regression to distinguish between patients and controls.


RESULTS
The normalized peak EMG of patients was significantly greater than those of controls in both maximal and submaximal exertions (P < 0.01). Whereas there was no consistent pattern in time to peak EMG, the time to onset of EMG revealed that the left sternocleidomastoid was always recruited before the onset of torque. A lack of significant difference in the median frequency of the 2 samples indicates that the pain did not disturb the muscle conduction velocity. Using discriminant logistic regression on frequency domain and time domain parameters, up to 97% of patients and controls were correctly classified with the resubstitution method.


CONCLUSIONS
Surface EMG can be used successfully in distinguishing chronic pain patients and controls, and efficacy of treatment regimes.
Kumar
Shrawan
S
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Shrawan.kumar@ualberta.ca
Narayan
Yogesh
Y
Prasad
Narasimha
N
Shuaib
Ashfaq
A
Siddiqi
Zaeem A
ZA
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004566:Electrodes; D004576:Electromyography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017288:Pain Threshold; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019415:Torque