MOHAMED SATHAK A. J.

COLLEGE OF
PHYSIOTHERAPY
NUNGAMBAKKAM, CHENNAI – 600034

ONLINE CLASS – LIVE MODE

YEAR : MPT I STYEAR

SUBJECT / CODE : PTS-ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
TOPIC : 1. EMG
CLASS CODE : A– 01- 001
DATE : 26.02.2021
TIME : 09.15 to 10.15 AM
PRESENTER : PREMANAND K

LECTURE BY : PREMANAND K
 1.EMG - SYNOPSIS

INTRODUCTION EMG
CONCEPTS OF ELECTROMYOGRAPHY
RECORDING OF ELECTROMYOGRAPHY SIGNAL
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What is electromyography?
● electromyography is nothing but recording the electrical
potential or activity of the muscle after the stimulation of muscle
itself.
Purpose of electromyography
● It is used in order to find out the muscle disorders or disease
● By the way, physician or Physiotherapy can formulate their own
treatment program which will help the patient most.

Development of electromyography
Frog experiment :
● Lugi galvani first reported about the electrical property of the
muscle and nerve in the year of 1781.
● He said that muscle activities are direct result of the neuronal
stimulation.
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● He recorded electrical potential from the stages of voluntary
contraction in frogs.

Du Bois Reymond concept:

● In mid 1800 he detect the electrical manifestation or
potential of the voluntary muscle contraction in the man.

Duchenne concept:
● Till mid 20th century the concept related to
electromyography is disregarded.
● This is overcome by Duchenne.
● He made some advancement in this electromyography.
● He developed instrument which helps to record muscle and
nerve activity reliable and valid.
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Today's scenario related to EMG
● Now two types of EMG
Clinical EMG
Kinesiological EMG

Clinical EMG
● Evolve with the scope of neuromuscular disease and trauma
● Detection and recording of neuromuscular disease and trauma
● Apart from the above, it involves the detection and the
recording of electrical potential from skeletal muscle fibres.
● Examination procedural purpose clinical EMG is used.

Kinesiological EMG
● It is used to study the muscle function
● it helps to study muscle activity and establish the role of various
muscle in specific activity such as flexion and extension
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About nerve conduction velocity Tests
● NCV determine the speed of peripheral nerves
● Peripheral nerves may be motor or sensory nerve
● Which conducts impulse of sensation or motor and
sometimes both.

About electroneuromyography
● The clinical EMG and NCV test both are combinedly called
electrodiagnostic procedures.
● IT CAN PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXTENT OF
NERVE INJURY AND MUSCLE DISEASE SO WHICH IS CALLED
ELECTRO NEUROGRAPHY

Uses of ENMG
● It contributes valuable information leading to a diagnosis
and prognosis
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● it helps for establishing anticipated goals and expected
outcomes for patients with musculoskeletal and
neuromuscular disorders.

Difference between clinical and functional or kinesiological

EMG
● The instrumentation requirements and data analysis
techniques will be differ from clinical and kinesiological EMG

● EMG findings are not diagnostic in isolation, however, and

must be considered in relation to clinical findings, as well as
findings from other physical therapy, medical, and
physiological tests and measurements.
 Concepts of Electromyography 8
● EMG is the recording of the electrical activity of muscle based
on motor unit activity.

● Motor units are composed of one anterior horn cell, one axon,
its neuromuscular junctions, and all the muscle fibers
innervated by that axon (Fig. 5.1).

● The single axon conducts an impulse to all its muscle fibers,

causing them to depolarize at relatively the same time.

● This depolarization produces electrical activity that is

manifested as a motor unit action potential (MUAP) and
recorded and displayed graphically as the EMG signal.
● The characteristics of the MUAP will change when there is
damage to either the nerve or muscle.
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● Recording the EMG Signal

● EMG signals are captured using a needle electrode, which is

inserted into the muscle through the skin.

● The most common types of needle electrodes are bipolar and

monopolar.

● A bipolar electrode is a hypodermic needle, through which a

single wire of platinum or silver is threaded.

● The cannula shaft and wire are insulated from each other, and
only their tips are exposed.

● The wire and the needle cannula act as recording and reference
electrodes, and the difference in potential between them is
recorded in volts.
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● A monopolar needle electrode is composed of a single fine

needle, insulated except at the tip.

● A second surface electrode placed on the skin near the site of

insertion serves as the reference electrode.

● These electrodes are less painful than concentric electrodes

because they are smaller in diameter
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● It is important to understand the process by which an MUAP is
transmitted to an amplifier in order to understand how such
potentials can be interpreted.

● Because of the dispersion of the fibers in a single motor unit,

the muscle fibers from several motor units will be interspersed
with one another (Fig. 5.2).

● Therefore, when one motor unit contracts, the depolarizing

fibers are not necessarily close together.

● Consequently, a needle electrode cannot be situated precisely

within one motor unit.
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● All the fibers of a single motor unit contract almost
synchronously, and the electrical potentials arising from them
travel through body fluids in all directions, not just in the
direction of the inserted needle.

Fibrous tissue, fat,and blood vessels act as insulators in this

process.

Therefore, the actual pattern of the flow of electrical activity is

not predictable.
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● The signals that do reach the electrode are transmitted to an
amplifier.

● The activity produced by all the individual fibers contracting at

any one time is summated, reaching the electrode almost
simultaneously.

● Electrodes only record potentials they pick up, without

differentiating their origin.

● Therefore, if two motor units contract at the same time, from

the same or adjacent muscles, the activity from fibers of both
units will be summated and recorded as one large potential.
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The size and shape of the MUAP can be affected by several
variables.
● The proximity of the electrodes to the fibers that are firing will
affect the amplitude and duration of the recorded potential.
● Fibers that are further away will contribute less to the recorded
potential.
● The tissue between the electrode and active muscle fibers also
act as a low-pass filter, attenuating the higher-frequency
components of the signal.
● The number and size of the fibers in the motor unit will
influence the potential’s size.
● A larger motor unit will produce more activity.
● Finally, the distance between the fibers will affect the output,
because if the fibers are very spread out, less of their total
activity is likely to reach the electrodes.
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● An MUAP is actually the summation of electrical potentials
from all the fibers of that unit close enough to the electrodes
to be recorded.

● The amplitude (voltage) is affected by the number of fibers

involved or by the motor unit territory.

● The duration and shape are functions of the distance of the

fibers from the recording electrodes, the more distant fibers
contributing to terminal phases of the potential.

● Because of these variables, each motor unit will have a

distinctive shape (see Fig. 5.3)
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● In addition to these variables, many excess signals, or artifacts,
can be recorded and processed simultaneously with the EMG
signal.

● An artifact is any unwanted electrical activity that arises

outside of the tissues being examined.

● These artifacts can be of sufficient voltage to distort the output

signal markedly, such as those coming from other electrical
equipment or fluorescent lights.

● Electromyographers will usually observe the output signal on

an oscilloscope or computer screen to monitor artifacts.