Recording activity in proximal muscle networks with surface EMG in assessing infant motor development

•Surface EMG analysis offers an objective assessment of muscle activation in infants.•Muscle network assessment shows potential for analysing central movement control.•Adaptive template matching can effectively remove cardiac artefacts from truncal EMG in moving infants. To develop methods for recor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical neurophysiology 2021-11, Vol.132 (11), p.2840-2850
Main Authors: Hautala, Sini, Tokariev, Anton, Roienko, Oleksii, Häyrinen, Taru, Ilen, Elina, Haataja, Leena, Vanhatalo, Sampsa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cardiac artefact
Infants
Muscle networks
Neurodevelopment
Surface electromyography
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Summary:•Surface EMG analysis offers an objective assessment of muscle activation in infants.•Muscle network assessment shows potential for analysing central movement control.•Adaptive template matching can effectively remove cardiac artefacts from truncal EMG in moving infants. To develop methods for recording and analysing infant’s proximal muscle activations. Surface electromyography (sEMG) of truncal muscles was recorded in three months old infants (N = 18) during spontaneous movement and controlled postural changes. The infants were also divided into two groups according to motor performance. We developed an efficient method for removing dynamic cardiac artefacts to allow i) accurate estimation of individual muscle activations, as well as ii) quantitative characterization of muscle networks. The automated removal of cardiac artefacts allowed quantitation of truncal muscle activity, which showed predictable effects during postural changes, and there were differences between high and low performing infants.The muscle networks showed consistent change in network density during spontaneous movements between supine and prone position. Moreover, activity correlations in individual pairs of back muscles linked to infant́s motor performance. The hereby developed sEMG analysis methodology is feasible and may disclose differences between high and low performing infants. Analysis of the muscle networks may provide novel insight to central control of motility. Quantitative analysis of infant’s muscle activity and muscle networks holds promise for an objective neurodevelopmental assessment of motor system.
ISSN:1388-2457
1872-8952
DOI:10.1016/j.clinph.2021.07.031