Characterization of Human Motor Units From Surface EMG Decomposition

Motor units are the smallest functional units of our movements. The study of their activation provides a window into the mechanisms of neural control of movement in humans. The classic methods for motor unit investigations date to several decades ago. They are based on invasive recordings with selective needle or wire electrodes. Conversely, the noninvasive (surface) EMG has been commonly processed as an interference signal, with the extraction of its global characteristics, e.g., amplitude. These characteristics, however, are only crudely associated to the underlying motor unit activities. In the last decade, methods have been proposed for reliably extracting individual motor unit activities from the interference surface EMG signal. We describe these methods in this review, with a focus on blind source separation (BSS) and techniques used on decomposed EMG signals. For example, from the motor unit discharge timings, information can be extracted regarding the synaptic input received by the corresponding motor neurons. In reviewing these methods, we also provide examples of applications in representative conditions, such as pathological tremor. In conclusion, we provide an overview of processing methods of the surface EMG signal that allow a reliable characterization of individual motor units in vivo in humans.