Simultaneous measurement of surface EMG and movements for clinical use

A system for simultaneous measurement of surface EMG, joint movement and temporal parameters of gait has been developed for clinical use. Some design constraints, imposed by the clinical situation, are indicated. Multiple cycles of movement are recorded and averaged patterns of muscle activation and joint movements are determined. Data processing runs concurrently with data acquisition, so that the results are available for clinical interpretation immediately after the measurement. Instrumentation, signal processing and software are described and some examples of application of the system for evaluation of therapies and functional aids are presented. It is proposed that clinically relevant quantitative information can be obtained by comparison of different recordings of the individual patient rather than comparison with patterns found with normal subjects.