Correlation between spectral and temporal mechanomyography features during functional electrical stimulation

Abstract

Introduction: Signal analysis involves time and/or frequency domains, and correlations are described in the literature for voluntary contractions. However, there are few studies about those correlations using mechanomyography (MMG) response during functional electrical stimulation (FES) elicited contractions in spinal cord injured subjects. This study aimed to determine the correlation between spectral and temporal MMG features during FES application to healthy (HV) and spinal cord injured volunteers (SCIV). Methods: Twenty volunteers participated in the research divided in two groups: HV (N=10) and SCIV (N=10). The protocol consisted of four FES profiles transcutaneously applied to quadriceps femoris muscle via femoral nerve. Each application produced a sustained knee extension greater than 65º up to 2 min without adjusting FES intensity. The investigation involved the correlation between MMG signal root mean square (RMS) and mean frequency (MF). Results: HV and SCIV indicated that MMG_RMS and MMG_MF variations were inversely related with -0.12 ≥ r ≥ -0.82. The dispersion between MMG_MF and MMG_RMS reached 0.50 ≤ r² ≤ 0.64. Conclusion The increase in MMG_RMS and the decrease in MMG_MF may be explained by the motor units coherence during fatigue state or by motor neuron adaptation (habituation) along FES application (without modification on parameters).

Keywords:
Functional electrical stimulation; Mechanomyography; Muscular physiology