The extraction of neural strategies from the surface EMG: 2004-2024.

This review follows two previous papers [Farina et al. 96: 1486-1495, 2004; Farina et al. 117: 1215-1230, 2014] in which we reflected on the use of surface electromyography (EMG) in the study of the neural control of movement.

Tutorial. Frequency analysis of the surface EMG signal: Best practices.

This tutorial is aimed primarily to non-engineers (clinical researchers, clinicians, neurophysiology technicians, ergonomists, movement and sport scientists, physical therapists) or beginners using, or planning to use, surface electromyography (sEMG) as a monitoring and assessment tool for muscle and neuromuscular evaluations in the prevention and rehabilitation fields. Its first purpose is to explain, with minimal mathematics, basic concepts related to: (a) time and frequency domain description of a signal, (b) Fourier transform, (c) amplitude, phase, and power spectrum of a signal, (d) sampling of a signal, (e) filtering of sEMG signals, (f) cross-spectrum and coherence between two signals, (g) signal stationarity and criteria for epoch selection, (h) myoelectric manifestations of muscle fatigue and (i) fatigue indices. These concepts are consolidated knowledge and are addressed and discussed with examples taken from the literature.

Right-left sEMG burst synchronization of the lumbar erector spinae muscles of seated violin players.

Burst-like activation of postural muscles has been previously described and plays a crucial role in elucidating the strategies for postural control adopted by the central nervous system (CNS). A spatio-temporal descriptor of surface electromyographic (sEMG) bursts (STB) is proposed and applied to statistically quantify the burst-like activity of the right and left (R-L) lumbar erector spinae muscle of nine seated violinists playing for two hours. The STB signal is the number of pixels of the high density sEMG (HDsEMG) maps simultaneously showing sEMG amplitude above a given threshold.

Consensus for experimental design in electromyography (CEDE) project: Checklist for reporting and critically appraising studies using EMG (CEDE-Check).

The diversity in electromyography (EMG) techniques and their reporting present significant challenges across multiple disciplines in research and clinical practice, where EMG is commonly used. To address these challenges and augment the reproducibility and interpretation of studies using EMG, the Consensus for Experimental Design in Electromyography (CEDE) project has developed a checklist (CEDE-Check) to assist researchers to thoroughly report their EMG methodologies. Development involved a multi-stage Delphi process with seventeen EMG experts from various disciplines.