The Effect of Chewing Movement on EMG Activities of the Cervical and Dorsal Muscles.

The purposes of this study are to reveal whether there is a corresponding activity in cervical and dorsal muscles during chewing function and whether the size and the hardness of the testing food affect those activities.The subjects were 15 males and 15 females. Mandibular movement during chewing motion and EMG activities of the anterior belly of digastric muscle, the sternocleidomastoid muscle, and the post-cervical and shoulder regions of the trapezius muscle were simultaneously recorded with Bio PAK System.The results of this study showed corresponding cervical and dorsal muscle activities during chewing. Furthermore, these EMG activities were affected by the size as well as the hardness of the test food.