High-density Surface and Intramuscular EMG Data from the Tibialis Anterior During Dynamic Contractions

Valid approaches for interfacing with and deciphering neural commands related to movement are critical to understanding muscular coordination and developing viable prostheses and wearable robotics. While electromyography (EMG) has been an established approach for mapping neural input to mechanical output, there is a lack of adaptability to dynamic environments due to a lack of data from dynamic movements. This report presents data consisting of simultaneously recorded high density surface EMG, intramuscular EMG, and joint dynamics from the tibialis anterior during static and dynamic muscle contractions. The dataset comes from seven subjects performing three to five trials each of different types of muscle contractions, both static (isometric) and dynamic (isotonic and isokinetic). Each subject was seated in an isokinetic dynamometer such that ankle movement was isolated and instrumented with four fine wire electrodes and a 126-electrode surface EMG grid. This data set can be used to (i) validate methods for extracting neural signals from surface EMG, (ii) develop models for predicting torque output, or (iii) develop classifiers for movement intent.