KINESIOLOGICAL ELECTROMYOGRAPHY

BACKGROUND

In daily life humans need to perform various movements of the body to complete the routine
activities and musculoskeletal system of the body is responsible for the movements of the body.
Joints formed by various bones allow the body to move and are controlled by the various
muscles, which are further controlled by the nervous system but the question comes in mind
during the movement which part of the muscle is active at various degrees of particular joint
range. It is difficult to measure the activity of the muscle in movements by visual observation.
With advancements in the field of science evolution of various Electrophysiological techniques
took place, which enabled us to relatively measure the neuromuscular activity. There are two
techniques of electrophysiology: Neurography and Electromyography. Neurography is the study
of the response potential of a sensory, motor or mixed nerve branch subjected to an electrical
stimulus applied to the surface. Electromyography (EMG) means recording of the electrical
activity of skeletal musculature and which involves two methods needle electromyography
(NEMG) which means the direct and precise recording of the electrical activity of the muscle
being studied, both in repose and in attempts at maximum contraction and surface
electromyography (SEMG) also called kinesiological electromyography (KEMG) which means
the electromyographic analysis that makes it possible to obtain an electrical signal from a muscle
in a moving body. The timing of muscle activity is needs to be studied to understand how the
nervous system controls movement.

DEFINITION

Electromyography (EMG) is an experimental technique concerned with the development,

recording and analysis of myoelectric signals. Myoelectric signals are formed by physiological
variations in the state of muscle fiber membranes.
Kinesiological EMG can be described as the study of the voluntary neuromuscular activation of
muscles within postural tasks, functional movements, work conditions and treatment/training
regimes.

INTRODUCTION

Kinesiological EMG basically evaluates timing of muscle activity with regard to the movements
and studies the relationship of muscular function to movement of the body segments. It is used to
study coordination and function of Neuro-musculoskeletal system. Surface electromyography
(SEMG) is mostly used in sports, occupational and rehabilitation sciences. It helps evaluation of
functional anatomical muscle activity, kinetic chain, coordination, providing biofeedback to
patients, assessing gait, determining matters relative to fatigue.
TYPES OF ELECTRODES USED
Two types of electrodes are used in KEMG: Active electrodes and Passive electrode. The
advantages of surface electrodes are painless with application, easy to apply, good for movement
applications; study of superficial musculature is possible, bloodless test. The disadvantages of
surface electrodes have more potential for cross talk from adjacent muscles, only be used for
surface muscles.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SURFACE ELECTRODES

• They allow a global recording of the muscle.
• They are non-invasive.
• There are no limitations in relation to the surface studied or the recording time.
• Only the study of superficial musculature is possible.
• They require the skin to be correctly prepared.
• Traces are obtained with a lower frequency spectrum.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF INTRAMUSCULAR ELECTRODES

• They allow a more local recording of the muscle.
• They are invasive.
• They make the study of superficial and profound musculature possible.
• Less preparation of the skin is required.
• They capture a higher spectrum of frequencies.

PLACEMENT OF ELECTRODES

The electromyographer must have a very good understanding of the anatomy of the human body
as electrode location and placement is very important. resistance of the skin by 200%. For many
clinical applications of EMG, the belly of the muscle is used as a site for placing the electrodes.
However, to assure repeatability of finding the specific site the electrode was placed, the use of
bony landmarks as a reference is a must. There are numerous books and publications describing
the exact locations of placement of the electrodes for this purpose. Another widely accepted
method of placing the electrodes or surface electrodes is to use the motor point. As with placing
the electrodes over the belly of the muscle, there are numerous publications that give the general
motor point locations as a starting location, then you can find the exact position by using the
motor point finder. Another specific issue that must be addressed is the inter-electrode distance.
As many electrodes have a constant inter-electrode distance, several have a variable inter-
electrode distance and one must be sure that this distance is kept constant throughout all subjects
and trials to assure that the electrodes are over the same muscle fibers.

WORKING OF KEMG

The origin of EMG is closely related to the work of nervous system. Electrochemical
transmission between nerves starting from the brain produces action potential which propagates
through nerve fibers. Action potential moves along nerve fiber and it will finally stimulate the
skeletal muscle. This stimulation creates muscle contraction which then results in movement of
human limbs. Action potential acts on a single nerve and there is vast number of skeletal muscle
fibers. Thus, the electrical potential from muscle recorded for EMG is actually superposition of
action potentials acting on skeletal fiber muscles. Representation of electrical potential in form of
time varying signal is what we called as EMG signal. The physiological variations in the state of
muscle fiber membranes form the EMG signals. A most important factor in muscle physiology is
influenced by the excitability of muscle fibers through neural control. Processes of
depolarization and repolarization result with action potentials at the muscle fibre membrane.
Motor Unit Action Potential (MUAP) is the sum up the action potentials, which differs in form
and size depending on the geometrical fibre orientation with respect to the electrode(s) site.

The KEMG involves three phases. The preparation phase, the recording phase and the processing
phase