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Advances in processing of surface myoelectric signals: Part 1

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Abstract

During sustained voluntary or electrically elicted muscle contractions the surface myoelectric signal is nonstationary and it undergoes progressive changes reflecting the modifications of the motor unit action potentials and their propagation velocity. In particular, during sustained electrical stimulation, the evoked signals show progressive amplitude, time scaling and shape modification. The quantitative evaluation of these changes is important for non-invasive muscle characterisation and may be performed in either the time or frequency domain using parametric and nonparametric spectral analysis as well as alternative methodologies. The paper introduces the detection techniques, reviews and compares the methods of spectral estimation based on FFT and autoregressive models, and discusses their applications and limitations in extracting information from the surface myoelectric signal with particular regard to myoelectric manifestations of localised muscle fatigue during sustained contractions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NeuroMuscular Research Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington St., 02215, Boston, MA, USA

    R. Merletti Dip. di Elettronica

  2. Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy

    R. Merletti Dip. di Elettronica & L. R. Lo Conte

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  1. R. Merletti Dip. di Elettronica
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  2. L. R. Lo Conte
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Merletti, R., Lo Conte, L.R. Advances in processing of surface myoelectric signals: Part 1. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 33, 362–372 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02510518

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02510518

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