Decoding the neural drive to muscles from the surface electromyogram
Open accessAbstract
This brief review discusses the methods used to estimate the neural drive to muscles from the surface electromyogram (EMG). Surface EMG has been classically used to infer the neural activation of muscle by associating its amplitude with the number of action potentials discharged by a population of motor neurons. Although this approach is valuable in some applications, the amplitude of the surface EMG is only a crude indicator of the neural drive to muscle. More advanced methods are now available to estimate the neural drive to muscle from the surface EMG. These approaches identify the discharge times of a few motor units by decomposing the EMG signal to determine the relative changes in neural activation. This approach is reliable in several conditions and muscles for isometric contractions of moderate force, but is limited to the few superficial units that can be identified in the recordings.
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The motor unit decomposition procedure was previously extensively validated on signals from various skeletal muscles.
“We followed the decomposition procedure that was previously extensively validated on signals from various skeletal muscles (7,17,21,25–28).”
From Modulation of Neural and Muscular Adaptation Processes During Resistance Training by Fish Protein Ingestions in Older Adults (2020) · cites this paper as [25]
Cites
Models of recruitment and rate coding organization in motor-unit pools.
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“This finding indicates that the amplitude of the surface enerated by motor units were simulated with the planar volume conductor model by Fuglevand et al. (1993).”
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Self-citationHolobar, A., Minetto, M. A., & Farina, D. (2014) · Journal of Neural Engineering · doi:10.1088/1741-2560/11/1/016008 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
Self-citationMuscle activation during low- versus high-load resistance training in well-trained men
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Self-citationA Modular, Smart, and Wearable System for High Density sEMG Detection
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“As details of the procedures of decomposition analysis have already been reported (Holobar et al., 2009; Farina et al., 2010; Gallego et al., 2015a,b; Yavuz et al., 2015), only a brief outline is provided here.”
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- Authors
- Farina, D., Holobar, A., Merletti, R., & Enoka, R. M.
- Affiliations
- Aalborg University (DK)
- Politecnico di Torino (IT)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Corresponding author
- Farina, Dario
- Venue
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 121
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1616-1623
- ISSN
- 1388-2457 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2043240362
- Cited by
- 383
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 27 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 1.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Clinical Neurophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PORTO@Iris (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- PORTO Publications Open Repository TOrino (Politecnico di Torino) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fondazione CRT
- Compagnia di San Paolo
- Aalborg Universitet
- National Institute on Aging (AG009000, R01AG009000)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Peripheral Nerve Disorders
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Keywords
- surface electromyography, neural drive, motor unit discharge, EMG decomposition, motor unit identification, isometric contraction
- MeSH terms
- Action Potentials, Electric Stimulation, Electromyography, Humans, Muscle Contraction, Muscles, Nervous System Physiological Phenomena, Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted
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