title: Power spectral analysis of surface electromyography (EMG) at matched contraction levels of the first dorsal interosseous muscle in stroke survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to help assess complex neural and muscular changes induced by stroke using power spectral analysis of surface electromyogram (EMG) signals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen stroke subjects participated in the study. They were instructed to perform isometric voluntary contractions by abducting the index finger. Surface EMG signals were collected from the paretic and contralateral first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles with forces ranging from 30% to 70% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the paretic muscle. Power spectral analysis was performed to characterize features of the surface EMG in paretic and contralateral muscles at matched forces. A Linear Mixed Model was applied to identify the spectral changes in the hemiparetic muscle and to examine the relation between spectral parameters and contraction levels. Regression analysis was performed to examine the correlations between spectral characteristics and clinical features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Differences in power spectrum distribution patterns were observed in paretic muscles when compared with their contralateral pairs. Nine subjects showed increased mean power frequency (MPF) in the contralateral side (>15 Hz). No evident spectrum difference was observed in 3 subjects. Only 2 subjects had higher MPF in the paretic muscle than the contralateral muscle. Pooling all subjects' data, there was a significant reduction of MPF in the paretic muscle compared with the contralateral muscle (paretic: 168.7 ± 7.6 Hz, contralateral: 186.1 ± 8.7 Hz, mean ± standard error, F=36.56, p<0.001). Examination of force factor on the surface EMG power spectrum did not confirm a significant correlation between the MPF and contraction force in either hand (F=0.7, p>0.5). There was no correlation between spectrum difference and Fugl-Meyer or Chedoke scores, or ratio of paretic and contralateral MVC (p>0.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There appears to be complex muscular and neural processes at work post stroke that may impact the surface EMG power spectrum. The majority of the tested stroke subjects had lower MPF in the paretic muscle than in the contralateral muscle at matched isometric contraction force. The reduced MPF of paretic muscles can be attributed to different factors such as increased motor unit synchronization, impairments in motor unit control properties, loss of large motor units, and atrophy of muscle fibers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surface EMG power spectral analysis can serve as a useful tool to indicate complex neural and muscular changes after stroke.
authors.affiliation: Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: xiaoyan-li-1@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: William Zev
authors.initials: WZ
authors.lastname: Rymer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000503:physiopathology; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017741:Survivors; D058067:Wavelet Analysis
keywords: First dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle; Spectral analysis; Stroke; Surface electromyography (EMG)