Motor unit pool organization examined via spike-triggered averaging of the surface electromyogram

Voluntary muscle force control is accomplished both by recruitment of motor units (MUs) and by firing rate modulation of active MUs. Typically, MU recruitment and firing rate organization is assessed using piecemeal intramuscular recordings drawn from different experiments, or even from different subjects. As a consequence, it is often difficult to assemble a systematic description of the relations between the different MU properties relevant to the control of muscle force. To address this gap, the objective of our current study was to characterize recruitment and firing rate organization of multiple MUs of differing action potential size, recorded simultaneously from the first dorsal interosseous muscle of intact human subjects, using a recently developed surface electromyogram (EMG) sensor array recording and decomposition system (Delsys). We sought to assess the relation between putative MU size and the recruitment and firing properties for these MUs, recorded at different muscle contraction levels. Spike-triggered averaging (STA) of the surface EMG was performed to estimate the action potential sizes using the firing times of discriminated MUs as the event triggers. The results show that the size principle, which relates MU size to recruitment rank order, was clearly evident during individual force contractions. In addition, the mean firing rate across MUs decreased with increasing size of the MU action potential and was also inversely proportional to the recruitment threshold force. We propose that surface EMG recordings together with advanced decomposition systems, combined with STA methods, may provide an efficient way to systematically examine MU pool organizational properties.