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Dependence of EMG Responses Evoked by Imposed Wrist Displacements on Pre-existing Activity in the Stretched Muscles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

W. Bedingham*
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Radiology, McGill University and The Montreal General Hospital, Montreal
W.G. Tatton
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Radiology, McGill University and The Montreal General Hospital, Montreal
*
Playfair Neuroscience Unit, Toronto Western Hospital, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8
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Abstract:

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The relationship between the segmented EMG activity in flexor carpi radialis evoked by imposed angular wrist displacement was studied with respect to the level of pre-existing background activity in 30 normal human subjects. Input-output response planes demonstrate that the magnitude of the Ml & M2-3 segments is dependent on both the displacement parameters and the level of pre-existing EMG activity in the stretched muscle. If the level of background activity exceeded 4-5% of the maximum voluntary contraction, the onset latency of the M1 segment and duration of the Ml and the M2-3 segments remained constant (within ± 2 msec) for different magnitudes of step load displacements, despite marked variation in the range of the displacement’s amplitude, duration, velocity, and acceleration. We propose that the dependency of the relationship between reflex magnitude and imposed movement parameters on tonic motoneuron activity, as represented by pre-existing EMG levels, may reflect an automatic adjustment mechanism that could be utilized in servo compensation of movements requiring markedly different force levels.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1984

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