An integrated AMLAB®-based system for acquisition, processing and analysis of evoked EMG and mechanical responses of upper limb muscles

An integrated multi-channel AMLAB®-based data acquisition, processing and analysis system has been developed to simultaneously display, quantify and correlate electromyographic (EMG) activity, resistive torque, range of motion, and pain responses evoked by passive elbow extension in humans. The system was designed around the AMLAB® analog modules and software objects called ICAMs. Each channel consisted of a time and frequency domain block, a torque and angle measurement block, an experiment number counter block and a data storage and retrieval block. The captured data in each channel was used to display and quantify: raw EMG, rectified EMG, smoothed rectified EMG, root-mean-squared EMG, fast Fourier transformed (FFT) EMG, and normalized power spectrum density (NPSD) of EMG. Torque and angle signals representing elbow extension measured by a KIN-COM® dynamometer during neural tension testing, as well as signals from an electronic pain threshold marker were interfaced to AMLAB® and presented in one integrated display. Although this system has been designed to specifically study the patterns and nature of evoked motor responses during clinical investigation of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients, it could equally well be modified to allow acquisition, processing and analysis of EMG signals in other studies and applications. In this paper, we present for the first time the steps involved in the design, implementation and testing of an integrated AMLAB®-based system to study and analyse the mechanically evoked electromyographic, torque and ROM signals and correlate various levels of pain to these signals. We also present samples of resistive torque ROM, and raw and processed EMG recordings during passive elbow extension.