Electromyography in the assessment of neuromuscular fatigue and biomechanical task specificity

Abstract

The use of EMG in the quantification of muscle fatigue has received much attention over the years. It has been used to identify the neuromuscular fatigue threshold at the aerobic-anaerobic transition during dynamic exercise (Lucia et al., 1999) and the progressive changes in recruitment patterns during isometric fatiguing contractions (Mathur et al., 2005). However, there is little or no published data comparing the EMG thresholds across a range of dynamic exercises. Furthermore, there is a lack of agreement as to the effect that training induced alterations to fatigue may have on the EMG signal. In addition to quantifying fatigue, EMG has been used to reveal intra- and inter-muscular adjustments to given internal and external exercise constraints (Li & Caldwell, 1998; Hug & Dorel, 2009). Nowicky et al. (2005) suggested that it may thus provide a means for the assessment of ergometer task specificity.