title: Spatial reorganisation of muscle activity correlates with change in tangential force variability during isometric contractions.
abstract: The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of spatial reorganisation of muscle activity on task-related and tangential components of force variability during sustained contractions. Three-dimensional forces were measured from isometric elbow flexion during submaximal contractions (50s, 5-50% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)) and total excursion of the centre of pressure was extracted. Spatial electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from the biceps brachii muscle. The centroids of the root mean square (RMS) EMG and normalised mutual information (NMI) maps were computed to assess spatial muscle activity and spatial relationship between EMG and task-related force variability, respectively. Result showed that difference between the position of the centroids at the beginning and at the end of the contraction of the RMS EMG and the NMI maps were different in the medial-lateral direction (P<0.05), reflecting that muscle regions modulate their activity without necessarily modulating the contribution to the task-related force variability over time. Moreover, this difference between shifts of the centroids was positively correlated with the total excursion of the centre of pressure at the higher levels of contractions (>30% MVC, R(2)>0.30, P<0.05), suggesting that changes in spatial muscle activity could impact on the modulation of tangential forces. Therefore, within-muscle adaptations do not necessarily increase force variability, and this interaction can be quantified by analysing the RMS EMG and the NMI map centroids.
authors: Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control, Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark.
authors: Christian A
authors: CA
authors: Mista
authors: Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control, Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark.
authors: Sauro E
authors: SE
authors: Salomoni
authors: Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Pain and Motor Control, Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark. Electronic address: tgn@hst.aau.dk.
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Graven-Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D004550:Elbow / Q000502:physiology; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007537:Isometric Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Force variability; High-density EMG; Isometric force; Muscle adaptation; Three-dimensional feedback