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Clinical Trial
. 2019 Mar 25:2019:9351689.
doi: 10.1155/2019/9351689. eCollection 2019.

EMG Muscle Activation Pattern of Four Lower Extremity Muscles during Stair Climbing, Motor Imagery, and Robot-Assisted Stepping: A Cross-Sectional Study in Healthy Individuals

Damaris E Geiger  1 , Frank Behrendt  2 , Corina Schuster-Amft  2   3   4
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

EMG Muscle Activation Pattern of Four Lower Extremity Muscles during Stair Climbing, Motor Imagery, and Robot-Assisted Stepping: A Cross-Sectional Study in Healthy Individuals

Damaris E Geiger et al. Biomed Res Int. .

Abstract

Background: Stair climbing can be a challenging part of daily life and a limiting factor for social participation, in particular for patients after stroke. In order to promote motor relearning of stair climbing, different therapeutical measures can be applied such as motor imagery and robot-assisted stepping therapy. Both are common therapy measures and a positive influence on the rehabilitation process has been reported. However, there are contradictory results regarding the neuromuscular effect of motor imagery, and the effect of robot-assisted tilt table stepping on the EMG activation compared to stair climbing itself is not known. Thus, we investigated the EMG activity during (1) a stepping task on the robot-assisted tilt table Erigo, (2) motor imagery of stair climbing, and (3) real stair climbing in healthy individuals for a subsequent study on patients with lower limb motor impairment. The aim was to assess potential amplitude independent changes of the EMG activation as a function of the different conditions.

Methods: EMG data of four muscles of the dominant leg were recorded in m. rectus femoris, m. biceps femoris, m. tibialis anterior, and m. gastrocnemius medialis. The cross-correlation analysis was performed to measure similarity/dissimilarity of the EMG curves.

Results: The data of the study participants revealed high cross-correlation coefficients comparing the EMG activation modulation of stair climbing and robot-assisted tilt table stepping in three muscles except for the m. gastrocnemius medialis. As the EMG activation amplitude did not differ between motor imagery and the resting phase the according EMG data of the motor imagery condition were not subjected to a further analysis.

Conclusion: Robot-assisted tilt table stepping, but rather not motor imagery, evokes a similar activation in certain leg muscles compared to real stair climbing.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Grand mean and SD of the time-normalized EMG activity. It contains the data of all 12 subjects for the different conditions and the four leg muscles of the dominant side; RF: m. rectus femoris, BF: m. biceps femoris, TA: m. tibialis anterior, and GM: m. gastrocnemius medialis. Cross-correlation coefficients and SD values for the comparison between stair climbing and Erigo EMG profiles as a measure of similarity regarding shape and timing (R = 0 no similarity and R = 1 perfect similarity).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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