Laboratory of Neuromuscular Biomechanics, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of International Liberal Studies, Chukyo University, Nagoya 466-8666, Japan.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Mar 3;21(5):1748. doi: 10.3390/s21051748.
Surface electromyography (EMG) has been used to estimate muscle work and physiological burden of the whole body during human movements. However, there are spatial variations in surface EMG responses within individual muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between oxygen consumption and surface EMG responses of lower leg muscles during walking at various speeds and to quantify its spatial variation within an individual muscle. Nine young males walked on a treadmill at four speeds: preferred minus 1 km/h, preferred, preferred plus 1 km/h, and preferred plus 2 km/h, and the metabolic response was measured based on the expired gas. High-density surface EMG of the tibialis anterior (TA), medial gastrocnemius (MG), lateral gastrocnemius, and soleus muscles was performed using 64 two-dimensional electrode grids. Correlation coefficients between oxygen consumption and the surface EMG amplitude were calculated across the gait speeds for each channel in the electrode grid and for individual muscles. Mean correlation coefficients across electrodes were 0.69-0.87 for the four individual muscles, and the spatial variation of correlation between the surface EMG amplitude and oxygen consumption within an electrode grid was significantly greater in MG muscle than in TA muscle (Quartile deviations: 0.24 for MG and 0.02 for TA, < 0.05). These results suggest that the physiological burden of the whole body during gait at various speeds can be estimated from the surface EMG amplitude of calf muscles, but we need to note its spatial distribution within the MG muscle.
表面肌电图 (EMG) 已被用于估计人体运动过程中整个身体的肌肉做功和生理负荷。然而，在个体肌肉内，表面 EMG 反应存在空间变化。本研究旨在探讨在不同速度行走时，小腿肌肉的耗氧量与表面 EMG 反应之间的关系，并定量研究其在个体肌肉内的空间变化。9 名年轻男性以 4 种速度在跑步机上行走：偏好速度减 1km/h、偏好速度、偏好速度加 1km/h 和偏好速度加 2km/h，并根据呼出气体测量代谢反应。使用 64 个二维电极网格对胫骨前肌 (TA)、内侧腓肠肌 (MG)、外侧腓肠肌和比目鱼肌进行高密度表面 EMG 记录。在每个电极网格的通道和个体肌肉中，计算了耗氧量与表面 EMG 幅度在步态速度之间的相关系数。四个个体肌肉的平均相关系数为 0.69-0.87，MG 肌肉的表面 EMG 幅度与耗氧量之间的相关性在电极网格内的空间变化明显大于 TA 肌肉 (四分位差：MG 为 0.24，TA 为 0.02， < 0.05)。这些结果表明，可通过小腿肌肉的表面 EMG 幅度来估计不同速度行走时整个身体的生理负荷，但需要注意 MG 肌肉内的空间分布。
