Investigation of muscle behavior during different functional electrical stimulation profiles using Mechanomyography

Mechanomyography (MMG) is a technique for measuring muscle oscillations and fatigue. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) has been applied to control movements mainly in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The goal of this study is the application of the MMG signal as a tool to investigate muscle response during FES. Ten healthy individuals (HI) and three SCI were submitted to four FES profiles in the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles. Four FES profiles were applied in different days. The FES profile set to 1 kHz pulse frequency, 200 us active pulse duration and burst frequency of 50 Hz presented the lowest MMG root mean square and spectral median frequency values, suggesting less muscle modification. The MMG signal was different between HI and SCI but there was no difference between the RF and VL muscles.